The moon, a reflected illusion
by Freefan1412
Summary: Nura Rihan was impaled but did not die. Life and machinations continue.
1. dreams and regrets' afterglow

_Originally, this fic was supposed to be a study of life, attitude, character and key events in a world where Rihan had not died, but as I got further along some AU hints started to mix in. In the 30k+ words that I have written so far they don't really matter yet, though._

 _Without further ado, I present you_ The moon, a reflected illusion

* * *

Act I

* * *

dreams and regrets' afterglow

* * *

"How is Rikuo?"

"He's fine," said the old man, puffing on a smoke. "Wondering if you being sick will get him out of attending human school."

Rihan dearly wanted to laugh, but he had a feeling that his chest was not up to the task yet. "He's my son – he'll keep trying till he's sitting on a mat. Or chair. It's chairs nowadays."

The old man managed only a quick grin, but given that intensity and Fear were still fairly rolling off him, Rihan had not expected much else. His temper must have been horrible when he still was like this even now that everyone was reasonably sure Rihan would survive.

"What happened."

Aaand there it was. Not even a question.

Had it been anything less than barely escaping with his life, Rihan would have been able to quote that he was his own man, adult, that he was able to deal with his own problems, that the geezer didn't need to butt in, and so forth. He would be able to avoid admitting that sentimentalism and a wish that should have long been buried made him lower his guard.

But Rihan did almost die. He _was_ almost killed. Under circumstances that, by all rights, were not supposed to be possible. And that made it not an issue between father and son but from leader to predecessor.

He sighed. "It was a trap. I walked right into it. I thought it might be, but -"

The first Nurarihyon eyed him. "But what?"

It stung, still, or maybe that was the wound. "We have a problem, Old Man. And no, I don't just mean this." He added at the glare he got. "Someone knew of the poem. And the flower. I walked right into it." He ran a hand through his hair, the best he could do without being able to move.

The glint in the First Commander's eyes sharpened. With a click he emptied his pipe before biting down on the stem, hard.

Near everyone in their Clan knew that Rihan had married before Wakana. Most knew the name of the woman. Less knew why she wasn't around anymore. Hardly anyone knew why she left Rihan. Even less knew of the letter and the flower. Those who knew what was written in it Rihan could count on one hand. And all of them were old, trusted retainers inherited from the first generation.

Was one of them a traitor? Had one of them just let something slip? Or was their security so faulty that someone could sneak into the Nidaime's private quarters and get a hold of one his most treasured possessions?

Otome was dead, had passed away in seclusion. Could someone have gained the information from her before she died?

And, perhaps most importantly, for how long has this been planned? Who pulled the strings? What did they hope to accomplish, killing the Nidaime but leaving the future Sandaime unharmed?

In face of all those unanswered questions, the actual circumstances that near bestowed catastrophe upon the Nura Clan were all but negligible.

Maybe keeping Rikuo on the compound for a few years longer wasn't such a bad idea. He was still only four. Six was an early enough age to start.

...Or maybe ten. Or twelve. Or, like, never. Who needed human education?

Rihan just had the feeling he wouldn't be able to weasel that past Wakana.

"You're confined to bed rest." The old man decreed. "Maybe after, _if_ you get your head on straight, I'll go on a trip."

Ouch. There it was. Rihan really wasn't in a position to roll his eyes. He kind of deserved the dig. Though he was sure the old man would keep nagging until it was way past used up.

He took the towel from his head and smacked it in the geezer's face. "Your bedside manner is horrible. I want to be tended to by my beautiful wife and not an ancient fossil."

* * *

TBC


	2. humans and school and Rikuo

Act I

* * *

humans and school and Rikuo

* * *

"Dad, why does everyone think yokai are bad?"

"Hmm?"

"At school. Kiyostugu-kun said yokai are evil. And scary." Rikuo's mechanical movements halted on a down-swing. "And that they don't exist."

Comfortably lounging in the tree Rihan wondered if sending his Hyakkiyako off to his son's school was within the acceptable field of actions a parent was allowed to take on their child's behalf. He pictured proposing the idea to his lovely wife and had his answers. The difficult way it was, then.

"So?"

Rikuo completely dropped the stance and turned to face his father. "They were laughing at me – when I told them about you! And grandpa! And Kubinashi! Yukionna! And everyone!" The brown eyes of his mother were wet.

Rihan reconsidered the Hyakkiyakkou option. It wasn't like the children would be harmed. Just some harmless fun, nothing serious. Children could deal with it. Going by the dark aura in his peripheral vision his son's most devoted caretakers clearly shared their Commander's train of thought, stealthily watching as they were.

A grin curled Rihan's lips. But no. He couldn't. Well. _He_ couldn't.

"The kids who were laughing, are they your friends?"

Rikuo sniffed and tried to subtly wipe his eyes. "Some."

"So why don't you invite them over. Everyone would love to meet them. Teach them about yokai." He paused, and winked.

A mischievous grin broke out on Rikuo's round face. But it dimmed quickly. "I already tried. They didn't want to come."

Oh? "Mmmmm. Then I don't see what the problem is."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, your friends were laughing at you because they don't believe in yokai. You offered to teach them the truth. If they don't want that, then that's their fault." Rihan let a leg dangle from the branch. "They don't know any better. But _you_ know the truth. About the old man and me and the others. That means _you_ are right, Rikuo." Rihan smiled warmly down, one eye shut. "This is important for the Sandaime too. If you are right, then don't let obstacles matter. Even if those obstacles are laughing classmates."

Rikuo's eyebrows pulled together, teeth nibbling his lip as the tried to understand. It was adorable. "It doesn't matter if they make fun of me. Because I'm right."

"That's right. And if it comes up again someday they will all know that you have always told them so and respect you for it."

The eyes of Rihan's son lit up in understanding. "Respect is like Fear, so they'll be like my Hyakkiyako."

Er, well. Not exactly like that. And that might be a bit problematic with humans. "Yeah. If you want them to, that is."

Rikuo screwed up his little face. "...maybe not all. Kana-chan is scared. But she said she wanted to come over!"

Rihan grinned. "There you go."

"I can show her the Hyakkiyako then! And we can play. It'll be fun!" At the thought of fun, Rikuo turned his face towards the sinking sun. "Can we go out tonight, dad?"

Leaning forward, Rihan smirked down at his son. "Maybe. But potential Thirds are only allowed to come along if they finished all their homework and all their exercises before."

Rikuo gasped, and quickly picked up his sword. Eyes gleaming, he continued the kata right where he left it with renewed energy. He'd be finished by the time sun was down.

Rihan's lips twitched.

Adorable.

Watching his son swing the wooden sword got boring after a while, so Rihan went strolling and looking for his wife to get a reward for active parenting. On the way, Kubinashi, Kurotabo, Aotabo, Yukionna, Kejoro and Natto Kozo all gave him thumps up.

Even the busybodies thought it was a job well done, apparently.

* * *

Kiyotsugu stuck out his tongue.

Rikuo stuck out his.

"Rikuo-kun," Kana-chan tugged at his sleeves. "Let's go. Leave him."

With tilt of his head that was calculated to irritate, Rikuo turned away from the taller boy and was rewarded by a yell of frustration. He grinned.

"Really, Rikuo-kun. Why do you always fight with Kiyotsugu-kun?" Kana-chan scolded, eyebrows pulled together as she led him to the far banks of the bus. "It's always the same. Don't you get tired of it?"

Rikuo huffed, but couldn't help a smirk at the back of Kiyostugu's head. "It's annoying what he says about yokai. I just can't help it."

Kana-chan frowned suspiciously as they sat down. "So you aren't doing it for fun?"

Rikuo's backpack muttered something along the lines of Rikuo being far too much like the Commander in a tone of resignation. Kana-chan's suspicion deepened.

"...Er…."

When Kiyostugu wasn't all irritating and arrogant and stopped mentioning 'his faultless research' every other word, he was almost fun to play with. Fight with. Rikuo may have made a hobby of poking at him. _May._

Now it was Kana-chan's turn to huff. "Really, Rikuo-kun. If it weren't for the yokai at your house, I wouldn't believe in them either. My mom and dad thought we played a game about yokai at your house when I told them." She gave him a hesitant look. "Your yokai were scary at first too. Maybe Kiyostugu and everyone is just scared so they don't want to believe in yokai."

"But I offered to show them. Like I showed you." Rikuo crossed his arms. "So it's their fault."

Kana-chan nodded. "I trust you, so I wasn't that scared. But the others don't know you."

Rikuo opened his mouth to argue just when the bus shook. Kana-chan squeaked and held on the nearest object. One of her hands clutched Rikuo, the other latched on to the back of the next row of seats.

When the bus shook even stronger, her grip turned white and she screamed together with the other children.

There was a great rumbling sound, and all of a sudden it was dark. The bus screeched to a halt.

The bag pressed to Rikuo's chest squirmed. He released it and Natto Kozo poked his head out. "Just what happened Rikuo-sama?" The little demon gasped as he got a look around and out the window. "Are you hurt?"

The bus' emergency lights were offering still some light as well as those of the tunnel. "I'm fine," he said. "Kana-chan, are you alright?" He reached out to touch her and felt her trembling. The grip she had on his arm was so tight, it almost hurt. "You can let go now, it's over. Kana-chan?"

Kana-chan didn't seem to hear him, so Rikuo patted her head. She blinked rapidly, tears springing to her eyes, perfectly visibly to him even in the almost darkness.

A sharp stab of anger prodded in Rikuo's gut. Stupid tunnel. And stupid bus. They made Kana-chan cry.

He smiled reassuringly. "It's fine, Kana-chan. We're okay."

Kana-chan looked at him, and Rikuo was reminded of her words from before. She trusted him more than she had feared yokai.

Rikuo pushed his backpack into her hands. "Can you look after Natto Kozo for me? I'll look around."

Natto Kozo started to protest, but Rikuo sent him a _look_. The little yokai's eyes widened in understanding and promptly started on his assigned mission. "Hey, Kana-chan, can you help me out of this, it's getting stuffy -"

For the first time, Rikuo took in the rest of the situation. His were classmates crying and some were panicking and some were hurt. Maki-san was taking care of Toori-san. Passing by the rows of seats, Rikuo checked to see what happened to the driver.

"Ermmm, excuse me, Mr. Driver?" He shook the bent-over body by the shoulders. The driver fell to the side, slumping. His head -

Rikuo quickly tore his eyes away, feeling sick and his knees weak. The Mr. Driver who took him to school every morning and waited because he knew Rikuo was sometimes late -

"Oi, Nura-kun." A cylinder of light was pointed at him, stabbing his eyes. "How is Mr. Driver?"

"Kiyostugu-kun." Rikuo stepped in his way before the other boy could take a look. "I don't think Mr. Driver can help us. You should better leave him alone."

Kiyotsugu sniffed. "A shame. You heard that everyone," he said to the others, who he had apparently organized while Rikuo stared at a corpse. "We got to climb out here by ourselves. Does anyone else have a flash-light? No one? Then one'll have to be enough." Kiyotsugu turned back to Rikuo. "Oi, Nura-kun, open the door."

Rikuo almost told him to do it himself, but it wasn't really the time for a fight or to insist that he couldn't tell Rikuo what to do (or to believe, as was the usual pattern). Besides…

One push later and the door was broken out of its hinges. Rikuo jumped out first and looked around. "It's safe outside!" He called back. "You can come out."

Kiyotsugu shouldered past and waved the flash-light around. "It seems so."

One after another, Rikuo's classmates climbed out of the bus. There were some missing, but Rikuo had passed their seats a little earlier and was glad that none of them could see as well as he could, not unless they had a light -

His eyes cut to Kiyostugu. He was deathly pale, green even, and his hands were shaking. Oh.

Kana-chan came out last, eyes darting around fearfully. Natto Kozo was sitting in the hood of her hoodie and chatting at her, about how soft her hair was, about how many landslides he had already been buried under, about how they would definitely be found soon, because everyone was going to come search for the Young Master.

"How?" Cried Kana-chan, wiping at her eyes. "You're here with us. How is anyone going to know something happened? None of our phones are working."

Rikuo took her hand and smiled. "Don't worry, Kana-chan. My dad probably already knows – I saw crows outside. They'll have told him." That was a lie. Rikuo hadn't seen crows, which now that he thought about it…

"Crows?" Kana-chan's tears slowed. Natto Kozo gave Rikuo signs to continue talking.

Rikuo nodded enthusiastically. "They listen to the Karasu Tengu Clan. We'll be fi-"

A scream cut him off.

Kiyotsugu's flash-light slid over rows and rows of robed figures. Rows and rows.

Natto Kozo sucked in a breath. "Gagoze-sama?"

The others whimpered and Kiyotsugu's light trembled so hard it only added to the confusion until it dropped from his hands and rolled to the side.

Rikuo stared at the demon, who stared right back at him.

Kana-chan squeezed his hand. "Are they Rikuo-kun's? Are we saved?" The hope in her voice was fragile but believing.

The only yokai around were those of the Gagoze Alliance.

"Why is Gagoze-sama here? He is not part of Rikuo-sama's guards. Where is Rihan-sama? How did they get in here?" Natto Kozo rambled quietly, climbing out of Kana-chan's hood to see better from her shoulder.

Gagoze had yet to take his eyes of Rikuo and the twist of his features was anything but benevolent. Fear was thick in the air. Rikuo met his eyes, head on, hard. The demon did not lower his eyes, gave no sign of respect whatsoever in the presence of his young Lord.

"Rikuo-kun?" Kana-chan questioned. She, like everyone else was transfixed on the yokai visible in the circle of the flash-light, not Gagoze himself.

"Natto Kozo, you stay here," he ordered just as Kiyotsugu managed to gather enough words to question if the people came to save them. Voice softer, he said to Kana-chan, "it's going to be scary, so close your eyes, Kana-chan."

Letting go of her hand, Rikuo left the group of children and jumped over pieces of rubble, crossing the tunnel until he stood near toe to toe with Gagoze and his followers, hidden by the darkness. The demon had twice his height.

"I'll give you one chance to explain, Gagoze," Rikuo said coldly. "This had better not be what it looks like."

The sound Gagoze made was like teeth clicking and grinding as a mouth too small for them tried to move. It echoed eerily in the air, transmitted by the Fear. Gagoze looked down, red eyes bright with murderous intent.

"Kill the Master."

The first yokai to attack him speared itself on his tanto. Rikuo tossed the body at the next one. In the resulting tumble he used them as stepping stones for a jump and slipped away into the darkness.

Anger churned in Rikuo's gut, but not quite as hot as the blood boiling under his skin. It was the first time he experienced his change like this, with this particular taste. But then, this was the first time Rikuo was in a fight.

"Where is the Master!" Gogaze screamed. "Find him! Bring me his corpse!"

Fool.

"I'm right here, Gogaze," Rikuo announced, the tip of his short sword digging into Gogaze's back, who stiffened. Through the robes, into the flesh. A drop of blood tickled down the blade, black in the darkness.

Rikuo's voice too travelled with his fear, and all yokai turned his his direction (stopping their harassment of his classmates – one of them _dared_ to grip Kana-chan by the shoulders but her eyes were closed and she was brave) to be the first to deliver him to their leader.

Finding Rikuo where he was...well. They were frozen and Rikuo smirked darkly. "Let me guess." He pulled the sword back and leaned it against his shoulder. "You wanted to kill me, have it look like an accident and then become Sandaime yourself. Do you take me for stupid? Just 'cause I don't bother with rumors doesn't mean I don't hear them."

The tunnel rumbled, familiar Fear teased against the edges of his perception. Short moments later, the wall was broken through and the Nura Parade of a Hundred Demons spilled into the tunnel. An enraged and _very_ motivated Night Parade, that is.

Rikuo's smirk widened as Gogaze watched his subordinates taken down some with lethal force, some without, all without trouble. "Such a shame. Doesn't look like your plot's succeeding," he mocked, which was the straw that broke the camel's back and Gogaze lunging at Rikuo with extended claws.

Unexpectedly, Rikuo found himself a bit disappointed when Kubinashi restrained the traitor and he had no reason to swing his sword.

By the time Nura Rihan came strolling in my-paced and casual, yokai were forced to their knees by their captors to the left and right and there was no conflict left whatsoever. "Well." Rikuo's father said, sword leaning against his shoulder the same way Rikuo's did, only his was still sheathed. "Here I was thinking it might be a coincidence the Gogaze Group wasn't around."

His golden eyes, one closed as always, drifted around lazily. "I also hoped I was just playing pick up. Doesn't look like I get my wish either, Gogaze." He tapped his sword against his shoulder. "Traitors are such a hassle. As this is an attempt on the life of the heir, the heir will be dealing with it," he spoke, voice of rarely heard authority. His gaze fell on Gogaze, restrained at Rikuo's feet. Narrowed. "Good work everyone."

After another glance around, he turned and strolled just as casually as he came away again. Rikuo didn't wait until he was out of sight before he picked up command where his old man had left it for him.

Yukionna laid a haori over his shoulders, murmuring "Young Master."

"I will not have yokai in our Clan that pray on the weakest, most defenceless of all and think themselves worthy of respect. Don't you have any pride?" He stared down at Gogaze, who though even unable to speak glared up at Rikuo with tangible hate. "Yokai like you are the most pathetic and least terrifying of all, in our World of Darkness."

Thick in the air, Fear swam and changed. Rikuo felt the clan's devotion to him strengthen.

"Make sure the Gogaze Clan is well restrained, then prepare them to be taken back to the main house. This issue will be dealt now, once and for all. Take what help you need." Kejoro and Kubinashi bowed and went to work.

To the smaller and most innocent looking yokai, he said, "ensure that the children can find the way out of here. Offer help, but otherwise keep your distance."

They too bowed with a "Young Master" falling from their lips before they started.

"Kurotabo, when we are done here, I want Kana-chan escorted home."

"Yes, Young Master."

"Daruma, oversee that traces of our involvement are limited."

"Understood." Daruma inclined his head, robed hands raised in front of his chest.

"The rest of you, pack up. We're leaving."

The Hyakkiyako went into motion. Yokai gathered and murmurs heightened. Fear became visible in the form of mist illuminated by ghostly lights. Hebi Nyoro came to Rikuo's side, waiting to be mounted.

Before he left, Rikuo let his eyes drift over his classmates. Kana-chan wasn't closing her eyes anymore and was instead chatting with some of the little ones, though she still held Natto Kozo in a death grip. It looked like Natto was going to come home later.

With Kana-chan as an example, the others stopped being entirely terrified of Rikuo's yokai and some even let their scratches be looked at, like Maki-san.

Kiyotsugu had at some point collapsed to his knees and had not yet gotten back up. He was staring in Rikuo's direction (or at nothing, it was difficult to tell) with an expression Rikuo had never seen on his face before.

"Let's go," said Rikuo.

* * *

TBC


	3. lessons and decisions and blood's fire

Act I

* * *

lessons and decisions and blood's fire

* * *

"When are you going to name me Third, Dad?"

"Don't know yet."

"You know you could do it soon. I'm definitely ready."

"Oh? Do you want to push me into early retirement?"

"What do you mean early? You're an old man."

"Oi."

"Reap what you sow, Rihan. See how I suffered when you were a tiny little brat."

"Oi!"

"Besides," continued Rikuo as though his grandfather hadn't spoken. "Just think about it. When you retire you can spend more time with Mom and take her to all those place she always wanted to go."

"Are you trying to get rid of me - Wait. What places?"

"I don't know. But there are some, probably. Like Paris. Or the Caribbean. Like abroad. Wait. Are there yokai abroad? I've never heard anything from either of you."

"That's cause there isn't much to tell," said Rihan.

"During my time the world was still a lot smaller," added the oldest man of the three. "Didn't have any particular interest in it either."

"Same here. I poked a bit around, but mostly there just wasn't anything worth the hassle staying away from Edo."

"So" - and here Rikuo's brown eyes started to shine - "outside of Japan is like a new frontier?"

Both grown men paused, tilted their heads and got identical thoughtful expressions.

"Huh," said Rihan eventually, a look of enlightenment on his face as the first Nurarihyon shrugged with the distance of old age. "That's not exactly wrong."

"Then-"

"No." Said the grandfather.

"But-"

"No." Said the father.

"Before you start thinking about the world, conquer Japan first." Instructed the first Nurarihyon.

Rikuo puffed his cheeks out. "Well, I would. If someone would step down and let me be Third." A pointed look at his father followed.

Rihan muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I said I'll think about it."

"Really? Yes! All right! The era of the Third Nurarihyon is coming!"

"Hold your horses, brat," said Rihan wryly. "You've got to beat either of us first. Then we'll see about promotion." Or stages thereof.

"If you didn't cheat all the time I would have! At Shogi or at Go! No! At both!" Pouted Rikuo who was protected by no less than an army seventy percent of the day and whose school had been turned into a fortress for his sake alone for the other thirty, both so much without him knowing. Rikuo who was maybe a tiny winy bit spoiled.

Rihan smirked. "That is kind of the point, Rikuo. Checkmate."

Nurarihyon laughed.

* * *

"You are restless, Dear. Are you uneasy?"

Rihan grumbled something unintelligible, grumpy even under his wife's loving ministrations.

"Don't worry, he is your son. He will definitely be alright."

"I'm sure he will." Rihan sighed. "It just – did you see his face? He was glaring at me so hard I felt the need to check for an anvil." Wakana's fingers combed through his hair as Rihan lazed on the veranda, his head in her lap. "… I don't want to think it was too early to send him to Toono."

Wakana hummed. "Then why did you send him?"

Rihan turned his head, looking at the garden, the yokai in the pond, in the grass, in the flowers. "I've been pulling the breaks on him since he first awakened. But since the mess with Gogaze..."

A knot was unmade by careful, delicate hands. "Rikuo did well with him, no? I have only heard good things about it from your Commanders."

Lightly chuckling, Rihan grasped her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. "If they only knew what a devil I married," he admired. "Walls have ears in this house and you know still more."

Wakana giggled lightly. "A beautiful devil, I hope."

"The most beautiful."

Her cheeks turned a light rose color and the smile she bestowed on him was from the angels.

"Do you want to go anywhere?"

"Huh?"

"Ah, it's something Rikuo suggested. And maybe if training in Toono goes well - and he doesn't resent me forever - maybe in a few years, when I'm less busy with the Clan, do you want to travel with me somewhere? Anywhere? Just the two of us?"

Wakana smiled slowly, somehow her smile even more divine than before. "Just the two of us?"

"Don't want to?" Rihan teased.

She lowered her gaze demurely, beaming. "Anywhere with you."

Rihan took a strand of her hair between his fingers and played with it. "Good."

* * *

"Here, this is today's work."

Wakana-san took the notes Kana had taken for Rikuo-kun and laid them to the side. "Thank you, Kana-chan. I'm sure Rikuo will appreciate it."

Tsurara coughed, "I doubt it", from the side but when Kana glanced at her, she sat as formal and perfect as always at the edge of the room, frozen tea in front of her.

"It was no trouble, Wakana-san," Kana said. "I'm glad I can help. I understand that Rikuo has a lot of responsibilities." She shifted awkwardly on her knees. "But, ah, do you know yet when he will be back?"

Wakana-san shook her head. "My husband says how long Rikuo will take depends entirely on how much he wants to learn and how fast and if he wants to come back home then."

"Ah." Kana's shoulders dropped.

"Is something on your mind, Kana-chan? You know you can always come here if you have trouble." Wakana-san said, smiling gently, and Kana tried her best not be creeped out by the many eyes she felt on her. She knew they were all harmless and mostly curious and Kana had spent many hours playing hide and seek with them in this house, but when they were watching from the shadows there was something unnaturally eerie about them…more so, without Rikuo around. If Kana was honest with herself, that was only part of the reason she missed him so much though.

"Ah, you see, the truth is, Kiyotsugu-kun – he's in our class – has started a, er, yokai search club, and, er, we are going to search the abandoned school building on our campus. I, I wanted to know if perhaps, if its not too much trouble, we could maybe not run into too many yokai tonight?"

Wakana-san blinked. "Oh my." She put a hand to her cheek and not for the first time Kana was awed by how pretty she was. "The old school building you say. I didn't know there was such a thing."

"I didn't either," Kana admitted.

"Nothing comes to mind, Wakana-sama," the yukionna said when the lady of the house asked for her opinion. "I will ask around. I don't think it will be a problem though, Ienaga-san. Rikuo-sama's school is secure even in his absence." She looked at Kana, not exactly friendly but also not unfriendly. "Isn't Kiyostugu the boy who tormented the Young Master?"

Kana's stomach dropped. "He used to," she said hesitantly, and promptly the walls started to make angry noise. "But he's changed! In fact he started this club because he wants to see that Rikuo-kun again. He admires him."

The walls quieted. Tsurara's yellow ringed eyes searched her, before she gave a decisive nod. "But of course. The Young Master is someone who everyone admires. Humans aren't any different."

Kana allowed herself to breath out. Kiyotsugu-kun, safe.

"Oh, I know." Wakana-san clapped her hands together in delight. "Why don't you accompany her, Tsurara-chan. That way we can be doubly sure."

Kana's head snapped around to stare at the mother of her best friend. From the corner of her eyes she saw Tsurara's eyes widen in equal dislike.

"Wakana-sama!"

"Why I think it is a wonderful idea. Didn't you say you considered enrolling in school to protect Rikuo better when he comes back? This is a great chance to get used to your future classmates."

Tsurara stared, mouth agape.

Kana looked very hard at the tatami mat belwo her knees. _Awkward._

* * *

TBC


	4. tanukis, onmyoji and school clubs

Act II

* * *

tanukis, onmyoji and school clubs

* * *

It kind of said something about Rikuo that when he came to school again for the first time in many months, he was late – lunch time late.

Inside the classroom was chaos. Most of the class was on one side, on the other Kiyotsugu was surrounded by the rest and had the attention of all as he held what was probably his latest speech.

Rikuo approached the smaller group from behind. "Hey, I'm back."

Everyone did a gratifying jump of surprise. Even Tsurara (strange seeing her as a human…). Everyone but a girl with dark hair who, come to think of it, Rikuo had never seen before. She must be the onmyouji.

Kana-chan and Tsurara's eyes slowly widened in horror. Rikuo realized too late that he had a rather telling grin on his face.

Tsurara turned so fast her hair slapped Rikuo in the face and she made some really funny noise while Kana-chan pushed Rikuo back and out of the classroom so fast and smooth, he almost didn't notice. Wow. Rikuo had had no idea those two could do teamwork on anything.

"Whatever you are thinking about stop," Kana-chan whispered fiercely. "It's a bad idea."

Rikuo extracted himself from her grip. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Kana-chan made a sound of deep despair. "Yura-chan is an omyouji, Rikuo-kun. I heard from Oikawa-san all about what they do to yokai. Do you want to die?"

"Don't be silly." He smiled. "Why would she do anything to me? I'm human." Pause. "Right now." He glanced past her into the classroom. "Anyway, lets go. Tsurara looks to be terrified out of her mind and I've got to see this Kiyotsugu who deeply admires yokai in general and me in particular." _That_ felt really weird to say. Rikuo and Kiyotsugu fought and argued and competed – the thought of being admired by him the way his clan did...was very, very, very strange.

Also, awkward. Which was definitely a first for Rikuo. Even more so since Rikuo had gone to no particular lengths that day a few years ago to hide who he was. All those who didn't write the attack off as an hallucination were definitely able to figure it out if they really wanted to. Some of the Clan must have addressed him by name once or twice, even.

It had been very interesting when his classmates hadn't called Rikuo out on it later, but well. He hadn't disliked it at that point anymore, because it was like tricking the humans which was always fun.

But now, being some third person target of admiration from someone who definitely didn't admire Rikuo usually was. Well.

There was _no way_ Rikuo was just going to come out and say what he was.

"Rikuo-kun," Kana-chan groaned as he re-entered the room.

"-and with this I found the Kiyojuji Paranormal Investigation Squad! Congratulations fellow students for with this you are guaranteed to be at the very front of yokai research!" He clapped Kekain-san and Shima on the shoulders. Tsurara looked to be done with the world when Kiyotsugu's noticed Rikuo and Kana approaching. "Very well. Ienaga-san, Nura-kun you may join as well. In fact, Nura-kun, if you offer your house for a yokai search this afternoon, you can even become a member with special honours!"

Rikuo looked at the onmyouji, smiled, and clapped his hands. "Sure, why not. Come over, everyone. You're very welcome."

Rikuo could just _see_ how Tsurara's hair stood on end. Kana-chan made a choking noise at his side like a dying cat.

Grinning evilly was probably telling so Rikuo tried his best to keep his expression even.

* * *

"Oi, Gyuki."

The old demon paused as he passed by Rikuo's room. "How can I help you, Rikuo-sama?"

"Me and my friends – the human ones - "he clarified, grinning, when the commander's eye began to twitch. "Are going to take a trip to Nejireme over Golden Week."

Gyuki turned, which in the precise way that he had was directly proportional to the amount of attention paid. "Do you wish for a welcome to be prepared, Young Master?"

"No, leave it. I'm not coming in official capacity. Just thought you might want to know."

"...I appreciate your forethought," Gyuki said eventually. Inclining his head, he left in a pace subtly more hurried than before.

"I already spoke with Gozu," Rikuo called after him. Gyuki froze."He said they didn't have any assignments then. Maybe we can hang out." _Don't try to sneak them away just cause you know I'm coming to visit._

The ox-spider demon's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Understood. Would it be too much to ask that you do not repeat the...incident from last time? Gozu and Mezu are still young after all."

"Of course." Rikuo nodded his sincere assent. "I don't know how many times I have to repeat it, but that was an accident, I swear."

If possible, Gyuki's shoulders slumped further. "Of course, Rikuo-sama. Please enjoy your studies."

Tusché. With a look of great disdain Rikuo pulled his attention away from fun machinations and towards algebra. Urgh.

* * *

"This is the last way west. There weren't any disturbances in our security, but if someone could sneak through anywhere, it would be here."

"Hmm." From high up in the trees, Rikuo looked down at a path that was hardly even there. "I see."

"I don't get it, Rikuo-sama." Mozumaru complained. "If you had wanted to inspect security, just say so. Why go through all the trouble of sending sending your little human club here so that you can come here? That's rude, you know."

Rikuo knew that. "Yeah, I'm sorry I dragged you in to this."

"I don't want a sorry. No way. Spill." Said Gozumaru, annoyed. "Why didn't you go directly to the Nidaime or Gyuki-sama if there is something?"

"That's just it, you see. I'm not sure if it is 'something'. With the unrest brewing in the west, the big shots have enough to do without me adding more to it." And _oh boy_ , was that true. "As heir and potential Third, it is my responsibility to take care of baseless things before they become an issue."

"Well, it can't be completely baseless if you're bothering to come all the way here, you spoiled prince." Pointed Gozumaru out reasonably, giving up his comfortable position of leaning against the tree as Rikuo started on the way back. "Or let me rephrase. It had better be something for dragging us all the way out here and especially if you expect us to keep silent about this to Gyuki-sama."

"You can tell him if you want," Rikuo offered immediately. "I don't want you to compromise your loyalty. But while I was in Toono, I heard some rumors."

Mezumaru snorted as they jumped to another branch. "You 'heard' a rumor? I'm surprised you managed that with as many rumours as _we_ got to hear from _there_. You can't have possibly found the time."

"Don't be jealous, Mezu," Rikuo joked. "I'll make sure to invite you along next time." Pause. "Not that I admit there was anything to get invited to." Pause. "Not, if there had been any such thing, that I did it on purpose."

"It's a deal," Mezumaru said.

Gozumaru did a very impressive eye roll that came across even in the near complete darkness, grunting, "keep me out of it. Gyuki-sama would have my head. Back to the point, what rumors?"

"Nothing substantial, like I said." Rikuo shrugged. "I mean, new yokai clans are rising all the time and falling just as quickly. There's no reason to think the one I heard about is any different."

"But?"

"But-" Gozumaru tensed in mid jump. Rikuo cut his words off.

Gozumaru landed on the ground, staring fiercely into the black forest, hand going to his sword.

Mezumaru followed suit, a tick slower as he moved into a protective position in front of Rikuo.

Rikuo extended his senses but there was no foreign Fear for him to detect. "What's wrong, both of you?"

After a long moment of deliberation, Gozumaru held out a hand, and a spider dropped into it from above. Yokai and bug stared at each other for a moment before Gozu clicked his tongue. "There are stragglers in the woods. Really, a warning would have been appreciated, Rikuo-sama. What do you want to do?"

Rikuo tried to make sense of that for a long moment before it clicked and he groaned. "If you could distract them for a bit. I want a moment to speak with the onmyoji.."

The two Gyuki demons grinned so wide their teeth gleamed in the moon light.

"A _bit,_ I said. And no traumatising."

* * *

"Shohei."

"Rikuo-sama."

"I'm sorry about your father. Hihi will be greatly missed."

Shohei let out a sound close to a growl. "Thanks but I don't care. I just want the bastard who did it to pay."

"I understand." Rikuo looked out into the garden of the Great Ape Alliance estate. It was surrounded by trees and bamboo rose far higher than the walls. It was idyllic and isolated. "The Nidaime has left the matter to me."

Shohei whirled. "What? Why isn't the Nidaime personally -" He bit off his words, aware of how close they came to unacceptable disrespect and who it was he was speaking to.

Rikuo fully entered the room Shohei had been brooding in since it happened and sat down across from him. "How much did you hear from your old man about what is going on?"

Shohei grunted. "Not much. I wasn't interested. Until this happened I thought I could live as a human, y' see."

"I don't see why you can't still do that. I'm doing both. But that is neither here or there." Rikuo studied the yokai he had grown up with, the Fear rolling off him, the anger, the curled yet aggressive posture. The glowing, passionate eyes. "There is something happening in the west. They are keeping it very close to their chests, I'm not even allowed to sit in on all meetings. And this – Hihi. It's got nothing to do with that."

Shohei bared his teeth, rage growing. "Are you saying my old man is less important than whatever shit got those old bastards robes in a twist?"

Rikuo leveled a _look_. "I'm saying that the Clan must hold together in times like this and I'm saying that that can't happen without trust. Father has bestowed on me the task to deal with those who struck down one of his trusted advisers, a long time valued member of the Clan." Rikuo leaned closer, feeling his eyes glow. "Do you doubt _me_? Father expects me to chose those I want at my side while I'm doing that. I'm here to ask you if you can swallow your anger long enough to listen to my orders while we're hunting those bastards down."

* * *

"Oi, Rikuo."

Gold eyes rolled lazily down to him.

"This upstart tanuki didn't come to challenge the Nura Clan or me or Rihan."

Nurarihyon's grandson lounged comfortably in the blooming the tree, sakura petals glowing in the moonlight.

"You know what that means, don't you?"

Rikuo puffed out smoke. "Cleaning this up isn't yours or the old man's job. It's mine." He smirked.

The brat's grandfather doubted very much that Rikuo would have turned down dealing with it had it fallen at anyone else's feet. "Not that," he snapped.

Rikuo leaned back against the bark, twirling the pipe in his hand. "That he came to challenge me means my name is getting out there." He didn't grin this time, though the gleam in his eyes was eager and heated. " _I_ am getting noticed."

"After the stunt you pulled with those Toono brats only a moron wouldn't have heard of our third heir." The first nurarihyon grunted, rolling his eyes at Rikuo's subsequent smirk. "That's not the problem."

"Oh?"

"This time will only be the first." The First joined the prospective Third in the tree. "You are a new generation. Any Clan hoping to break the hold of the Nura will aim for you and will challenge now, while you are still inexperienced. While change is happening."

Rikuo eyed him for a long time before dropping his gaze in thought. That was new, a souvenir from Toono, that thinking first.

It was change and he wasn't sure he liked what that did to his cute little grandson.

But then Rikuo's lips curled and it was the same as it used to, eager, confident and no little amount of arrogance. "Then let them come. I will defeat them all and add them to my Hyakkiyako if they are worthy."

The yokai who Rikuo got those golden eyes from blinked, startled. Then he laughed out loud. Laughed and laughed until many curious eyes disturbed the solitary garden.

Rikuo smiled and ignited a new batch of tobacco with a fingertip of blue flame.

Wait.

"Oi, Rikuo. Is that my pipe?"

"If it was?"

"You little brat, I got that from your grandmother! Give it back right now! You're still way too young to be smoking!"

"Don't want to."

Making a grab for the insolent kid turned out to be futile, because his form wavered and melted away.

"Don't think you can get me with my own trick, Rikuo!" And off he was, jumping after the unruly kid who was way too cheeky for his own good.

* * *

Much to her embarrassment, when Yura came home to her apartment and turned the lights on, she almost screamed.

"Yo," said the yokai lounging on her window sill, one foot out the window, smirking arrogantly.

"Rentai!" She shouted, and fused a shikigami to her hand. "Be gone, yokai!"

Her most powerful attack, Yura Max, split in half and did nothing more than soak her walls and floor.

"Oi, oi, that's dangerous. Careful where you aim that." His form wavered and disappeared. Fear. Damn it! And Yura _still_ couldn't sense him.

"Where are you hiding, you cowardly demon! I'll destroy you!"

"If that's supposed to be encouraging, you still got a ways to go, Onmyoji."

Yura whirled, aimed. Nothing. With her free hand she summoned Tanrou to guard her flank. For shikigami more her apartment wasn't big enough.

"Could you quit that? I just came here to talk." The tilt of the voice was more amused than irritated, though.

"As if I'll believe anything a yokai says! A yokai who sneaks into a girl's home at night! Shame on you."

An eerie chuckle echoed. "My bad, my bad. But I noticed the wards and just couldn't turn down the challenge."

"I didn't do them for your fun!" Her face burned of anger and shame and embarrassment in equal parts. Her wards! Her ofuda! How could a yokai just sneak past them? "Who are you? Name yourself."

He appeared in the same spot he had disappeared from. For a disconcerting moment Yura wondered if he had ever moved at all. Gold eyes gleamed. "Finally willing to listen?"

Yura lowered her Rentei-arm, but Tanro kept growling. Clearly, she was at a bigger disadvantage here than she'd thought. "Talk." She eyed him. She had thought so, but it really was the same one she met at Nejireme-yama. What was he doing here? Wasn't the mountain his territory?

He raised an eyebrow at her and at Tanro and the way she really hadn't disarmed herself. "Right." He shrugged, dismissive of the danger she still presented. "This town, all of Kanto really, do you know whose territory it is?"

She raised her Rentei-arm a bit. A threat that he had better not be here to waste her time. "Nurarihyon."

The yokai, who looked young, though that didn't actually say anything, nodded. "Nurarihon. The Nura Clan to be precise." He glanced at her lazily. "I'm its Third heir apparent."

Her weapon lowered without permission. "Nura Clan." She repeated dumbly. Nura-kun's face flashed in front of her eyes. She looked at the yokai. But there were no similarities to her friend from school.

(Or were there?)

"What does an 'illustrious' yokai like you want from me?" Yura demanded, heavy on the sarcasm.

It didn't faze him. "A truce."

What?

"What?" She stared at him. "You are not serious. Don't make fun of me! I'm an onmyoji! What do you think I do for a living?"

"Hunting yokai," the yokai invading her home said carelessly as if he couldn't see the contradiction.

For a long minute Yura just waited for his own words to catch up with him. It didn't seem like they did.

Just as she was about to blast him out of her home and house, he spoke up again, voice more serious. "We're in a state of war at the moment. With whom or why is not of your interest, but I want you to be aware of it and understand what's going on here." His gaze drifted to her and all of a sudden she could see it – how this demon could be... _something_. Something _more_. The casualness and harmlessness he had so obviously been projecting before was gone.

Yura swallowed, and dismissed Tanro and Rentei. Had he wanted to harm her he had been more than able to from the moment she entered.

"Thanks," he said. "Anyway. The Shichinin Dogyo – you already clashed with one of them – don't care about collateral damage or about the humans they involve in their problems with us. Which is why I'd be grateful if you could keep aggressions against us to a minimum while we are dealing with them. After all, we would only get into each others way of protecting the city – and the humans- if we fought each other as well and that could easily cost someone their life."

Yura eyed him with barely hidden contempt and skepticism. "Protecting _humans_. Don't make me laugh, yokai. What's your real angle?"

The yokai, the nurarihyon, just gave her an unamused stare. "Do you see me comparing you to murderers and thieves on the streets? It might be wise for you to keep in mind that there are as many differences between yokai as there are between humans." He changed his position, swinging his second leg also out the window. "In the end, it doesn't matter if you believe me, Onmyoji. Not beyond convenience, that it. But just remember the consequences if you don't. After all, I watch out for humans because I want to. _You_ do it because its your duty."

Swishing of wind and fabric and he was gone, disappeared into the night. Yura dashed to the window, looked out, then slammed it shut, growling. Only after she had pulled the curtains closed did she allow herself to sink to her knees and acknowledge the trembling of her body's stress reaction.

She wasn't good enough an onmyoji yet, by far. She had to practice more. She had to be _better_. If she wanted to stand a chance at taking down that yokai, never mind his entire hyakkiyakko.

Never mind _two preceding generations_.

(...were they alive, those generations? Did they just go into retirement or...did they kill each other?)

How did the Main House in Kyoto ever forget to mention _this_?

Not for the first time since she came here did Yura started to seriously doubt her abilities.

* * *

TBC


	5. of civil wars and intrigues

Act II

* * *

of civil wars and intrigues

* * *

"Say, Rikuo-kun, is something serious going on?"

"Hmm? Why do you ask that?"

Kana looked from one yokai in disguise squashed next to them in the tram to the next. "Somehow it seems you've got more security than normal."

"See?" Rikuo said with a dramatic sigh to a tall man in a suit who Kana hadn't recognized until that moment as Kurotabo. "Even Kana-chan noticed. If we're trying to go for secrecy this is the worst we can do."

"What do you mean secrecy, Young Master? The Shikoku yokai already know of your appearance during the day." Oikawa-san pointed out.

Rikuo rolled his eyes. "Not from them. From everyone else who might be watching and don't tell me there couldn't possibly be any strangers in our territory when any lone yokai can just jump on a plane and report back by phone. Sticking so many guards on me is like putting up a neon sign that we're in a crisis." Rikuo-kun argued. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last thing we need at the moment is more rodents trying to take a bite."

"So something _is_ going on," Kana said into the uncomfortable silence where none of the yokai managed to look Rikuo-kun in the eye.

"Yes it is, but you don't need to worry about that, Kana-chan."

Kana frowned. "If you say something like that I'll only worry more." She bit her lip. "Is there anything you can tell me? Something I can help with?"

Rikuo traded glances with Oikawa-san. (And wasn't it just unfair what that did to Kana's insides?)

"Well," said Rikuo slowly, rolling the sounds off his lips. "I guess...if you can't get in contact with us or need help with yokai and we can't help or something, get in contact with Keikain-san. She's good at what she does and at the moment the Main House is not hundred percent secure."

An uneasy feeling spread in Kana's stomach but she didn't let it show. "It's that serious?"

Another traded glance that she couldn't read. "It's pretty serious," Rikuo admitted. Then he smiled. "But on the upside, it won't take much longer before we cr- I mean take care of those guys. They're confident, that makes them impatient and prone to mistakes."

Really? Kana wanted to ask childishly, yearning for the blind confidence she had had when she was younger, when she knew Rikuo-kun would take care of it without being aware that something could happen to him because of it. They stepped of the train.

She wondered what Nura-san was doing, and tried to picture her father in his position. It didn't fit. She tried to picture herself in Rikuo-kun's shoes and though that went better she knew she wouldn't be able to move under the weight of his responsibilities.

But Rikuo-kun seemed confident and in more ways than just the habitual way that bordered on arrogance. "I'll believe you, Rikuo-kun. But you better tell me when this is over. Or if there is anything I can do. Promise me."

Rikuo-kun looked taken aback for a moment before he smiled, slow and happy in the way that was entirely human. "Promise. You haven't been over in a while after all," he said as they entered their school building. "Without the rest of the club, I mean. Natto Kozo and the others miss you."

"You did throw me a birthday party, though," she reminded him as she toed off her outside shoes and exchanged them with the school shoes.

Rikuo-kun grinned, as she had known he would. Honestly he had enjoyed the celebration probably more than she had and that was saying something.

A new voice cut in. "Ienaga-san. Oikawa-san. Nura-kun. Good morning."

Kana looked up. "Yura-chan. Good morning. What's with that uniform?"

"It from my old school, 'cause I tore mine up again." She spoke to Kana, but didn't take her eyes off Rikuo-kun. "I had a fight with the Shikoku yokai Muchi, ya know."

"Oh no! Are you alright?" Kana wasn't supposed to know that yokai, was she?

"I'm fine, thanks for asking, Ienaga-san," she said slowly, still watching Rikuo-kun who closed his shoe case obliviously. "Nura-kun have you ever heard of the Shichinin Dogyo? He was one of those."

Rikuo blinked at her in surprise. "Me? The...what was it – Shichinin Dogyo? Hmmm." He seemed to be seriously considering for a while. "No, I'm sorry. Can't say I have, why?"

Kana didn't believe him for a second. She'd take any bet that that yokai had something to do with what was going on with his Clan.

"…never mind." Said Yura-chan slowly, suspiciously.

"Ah, if you wanted to know more about them, why don't you ask Kiyotsugu? Even if that yokai or his group aren't from around here, he can definitely find out more. Don't tell him I told you so, though. I'd never hear the end of it."

Yura was still staring. Oikawa-san seemed to be sweating drops of nervousness in the form of hail.

"Perhaps I will do that. Thank you, Nura-kun."

"No problem. Take care Keikain-san." Rikuo smiled.

Yura had just turned her back, and Kana told her racing heart to slow down when Yura _whirled_ on the spot. Kana saw her fingers' flashed with the white paper of her shikigami as she was pushed aside and a body stood protectively in front of her.

This was it. It was over. Peace and normal life and Rikuo-kun and Yura-chan would fight out a war right here in their school.

But no.

No explosions, no shikigami followed.

In fact, Rikuo and Yura weren't even facing each other.

Something...something outside. Rikuo-kun was shielding her from the outside, and he in turn was shielded by Oikawa-san and another two random students who had never set foot into the school before this.

Peering around Rikuo-kun's shoulder, Kana saw nothing outside. Nothing but students and students and the same uniform.

Her stomach dropped through her feet. If Rikuo-kun's yokai could sneak into school, why couldn't others?

Slowly, Rikuo unfroze. Following his lead, so did his guard and Kana sucked in a breath not suffocated with tension.

And promptly froze again. Yura-chan was staring at Rikuo-kun anew.

Even Kana knew what this looked like. In all her years of making excuses around Rikuo, there was nothing coming to mind so save them from this.

Inscrutable, Yura-chan took a breath, then marched straight up to Rikuo-kun, stepping practically on his toes.

Oikawa-san lifted a hand to her lips.

Rikuo managed to look just slightly puzzled. "Can I help you, Keikain-san?"

Yura-chan stared, eyes roaming his face, searching. "Excuse me," she said, and slapped an ofuda to Rikuo's face.

Oikawa-san squeaked and sucked in a breath. Kana crouched down into a ball, bracing for a blizzard.

It didn't come.

Peeling an eye open, Kana saw the reason why in the tight grip Rikuo-kun had on Oikawa-san's wrist. No blizzard. And Rikuo-kun…

\- didn't look sick, or like he'd be turning into dust any moment or like anything other than a boy who had a piece of paper stuck to his face. His eyes crossed.

"Er," he said, and Yura-chan turned three shades of red.

Tearing her ofuda from Rikuo's face, she turned and ran shouting stammered apologies.

Oikawa-san slumped, joining Kana in the vicinity of the ground. "Damn onmyoji girl. Young Master, why can't we just put her into a packet and send her back to Kyoto?"

"Now don't be like that, Tsurara," he grinned, unfazed in a way the best actors would be envious of when they just faced something close to certain death. "Keikain-san has every right to be here."

"Maaaster," Oikawa-san and the other few students moaned.

Rikuo just waved a hand. "Never mind that. You sensed that just now, didn't you. We've got a problem." And oh, _now_ he looked at bit tense though of course only a bit because he couldn't just make it _easy_ for people caring about him – he had to enjoy the danger. "It's day time, and it'll stay day time, and we're at school and I'm clearly targeted."

Sometimes Kana wondered whatever possessed her to follow a boy into a yokai mansion.

"Suggestions, anyone?"

A chorus of groans met him, Kana's included.

* * *

" _Rikuo-sama, it's me."_

"Gozu, hi." Rikuo said into his phone, sticking it between his ear and shoulder to have his hands free for homework. "What is it?"

" _About that matter you asked us to look into – we got a hit from the travelling yokai passing through our territory. You really hit the jackpot of creepy. There is a sword – it's called Demon King's Hammer."_ Gozumaru's voice was without humor. _"The name is presumptuous but from what we gather its abilities are the real deal. That thing uses a hyakkiyakko as food."_ Lo and behold, there was some real anger in the gyuki demon's voice there.

"Hoh." Rikuo abandoned all pretence at doing work and considered his options for a brief moment. "That's good to know. Good job, Gozu." He rose to his feet, left his room and took a stroll in a seemingly random direction through the house. "It's bad thing to offer in gratitude, but tell Mezu I'm sorry. I promised to include him next time, but it seems like even if he left now, he won't get here in time."

" _We can't leave anyway – those Skikoku reinforcements are trying to get past us but_ _..._ _what are you planning?"_ Gozumaru's voice was thick with suspicion.

"The only thing I really can now. Hang tight in the defence, you won't have to for much longer," Rikuo said and hung up. "Old man, I know you're here," he said to an empty spot on the veranda. "I'm planning to take the Hyakkiyakko out tonight. Put an end to this tanuki mess."

His father appeared, one eye closed and comfortably leaning on his hands, head tilted towards the orange sky. "That's sudden," was all he said without judgement.

Rikuo sat down next to him. "Letting him gather all his followers and letting him pick the time of the strike may be the best way to completely crush him, and to make a point of it. But something turned up that makes me think its a very bad idea to deal on the tanuki's terms."

Smiling lazily, his father voiced, "go ahead. This is your responsibility after all."

"I know that," Rikuo snorted. "Just thought it would have been bad form to take out the Parade without informing its _current_ Supreme Commander."

"Brat."

"I sure haven't got it from mother," retorted Rikuo pointedly. Turning away, he called, "Karasu Tengu."

A near instant later, a black blur landed on the grass to Rikuo's feet. "Young Master."

"Assemble everyone who wants to come with me kicking a tanuki."

Karasu's eyes widened briefly before he lowered his head low. "As you wish."

Another two hours till complete sun down. That would have to be enough time to prepare. Rikuo climbed to his feet when his father's voice sounded.

"Here. Take this."

Rikuo caught a the thin object, and stared. "Nenekirimaru."

"I'm not going to have much use for it, stuck in meetings all day," explained the current wielder of the sign of the Supreme Commander with a tone of melancholy. Resting an arm on his knee and head on that arm, he peered up. "Use it well. Don't die, Rikuo."

His fingers closed around the sheath. "I have no intention of dying before all of the yokai world recognizes my name."

His father smiled, eye glittering. "Have fun."

Rikuo swallowed, and grinned. "Thanks."

Pulling out his phone, he dialled a familiar number. "Hey, Kana-chan. If you've got any plans for down town tonight, you should cancel them."

* * *

"Don't let her escape!"

Large black blurs hit the Yosuzume out of the sky. Strings coiled around the downed body not a second later.

The nurarihyon, the Commander, the leader of the winning (dominating) side, walked around his fallen opposing general with nary a falter in his steps towards the newly captured one. When he was within arm's length, the strings parted for his hand. It dived in and re-emerged with the cursed blade. After a long moment of studying it, features twisted in loathing.

"Kurotabo," he called, and the black monk yokai stepped out of the rows of his followers. "I want your opinion on this."

The monk closed the distance and looked over his master's shoulder at the weapon. The Nurarihyon, the Third, said something to him in a low voice.

The monk stiffened and though Yura couldn't read his expression because of his hat she would bet that if yokai could pale, this one would have.

"I see," said the Nurarihyon, voice so cold it made the goosebumps on her skin run for cover. The look in his golden eyes was more evil than it had been through the entirety of the battle that she had witnessed. He stared down at the weapon in his hands for a long, tense minute while his army awaited orders. Yura stood like frozen.

"Bring that Yosuzume back to the main house. I want answers."

Bright eyes locked with hers and Yura flinched at the fury in them, even though she knew it wasn't directed at her.

"Onmyoji," he said, and his feet carried him to her. She should run, or defend herself, or, or do _anything_ \- anything but wait for him stand across from her, far too dangerously close. (If he wanted, he could kill her before she knew – that _grated_.)

The tilt of his head however was considering, thoughtful as he looked at her.

"What do y' want?" She snapped. "I'll have you know that the truce is over now that you're finished with your petty civil war."

His lips twitched in a way that under different circumstances would have been a smile and wasn't it _frustrating_ that she was able to read that?

"I hope you'll let us off for tonight," he humoured her, and held out the blade for her to look at. "And if you wouldn't mind doing me a favour, is there anything you can do here to seal this?"

….eh?

She stared.

First at the sword, then at the yokai holding it. Then at the hakkiyakko, all of their eyes on her, ready to jump in at any moment.

A _yokai_ , wanting to seal a sword that gave _power_? Asking _her_ , the _mortal enemy_ to do it?

It was shocking, but had she been in this situation a couple months ago, she would have short first and considered it a real request never.

Her jaw clenched. She crossed her arms. Uncrossed them, because she was shamed – had her life saved by him and there was no way she could refuse.

Eventually she offered grudgingly, "I can stick an ofuda to it so that no yokai can touch it."

She expected him to turn her down. He wouldn't be able touch it either, after all. Instead he rammed the sword's tip into the street, leaving the hilt waiting for an ofuda.

Reluctantly, she put one to it.

"Thank you," the nurarihyon said, and smiled, turning back to his parade.

Yura felt her eye tick in irritation. "You can't just leave the thing here! It's the middle of the street."

He waved over his shoulder. "Oh, I know. Someone will come pick it up later."

A human, in other words. "Nura-kun?" Yura threw out suspiciously. The Commander's steps halted and the Night Parade started to murmur, looking at her in a way that was very different from before. Def-

The Nurarihyon looked back at her, smirking. "Whoever might this Nura-kun possibly be? Your boyfriend?"

Yura almost shot him, ceasefire and debts aside. Instead she managed to contain her anger to a shout and a stomp of her feet.

Turning on her heels, she left before she could rethink her not shooting decision. But _that ass_!

His voice carried after her.

"Inugamigyobu Tamazuki of the Shikoku Hachijuhakki Yakko. You have intruded upon Nura territory, attacked and killed members and humans under our protection, are responsible for the death of the Hihi of the Great Ape Alliance and his household. You have -"

Yura shivered.

* * *

Two hours late, the door was slid open to admit the Young Master. The Fear soaked air of the room stirred and waved around his body as he moved to the spot in front of the Supreme Commander in a way that entirely lacked the grace and subtly of his night form.

Rikuo-sama went to his knees and bowed, offering a long object covered by cloth in front of him. "Excuse my tardiness, Father. A matter that needed sunrise delayed my arrival."

He looked well for a boy returning from his first war. If he was hurt, it was not enough to show.

The Supreme Commander's face didn't change at all from the usual ease he held, as it had not changed in the hours where Rikuo-sama failed to appear. "You were successful?"

"Yes, Father." Rikuo-sama sat up. "The Shikoku Hachijuhakki Yakko has been crushed. The only remaining yokai are Yosuzume, who we have taken prisoner in regard to her involvement in a matter unrelated to this incident, and Tamazuki himself, who's life, with the agreement of the Great Ape Alliance's heir, Shohei, and on the behalf of the Great Shikoku Yokai Inugamigyobu Danuki remains."

The Supreme Commander studied his son in the same way he would the actions of any other subordinate. Eventually his gaze drifted over the ranks of his generals. "Objections?"

Predictably, Hitotsume spoke up. "Rikuo-sama. Did I understand right that the disrespectful tanuki is still alive?"

Rikuo-sama's head turned. "Indeed."

"Why do you allow such a thing? With the enemy commander still alive, can you really call this a victory?" Hitotsume demanded. "This mercy will make us look weak! They'll doubt our conviction."

Rikuo-sama's expression was decidedly impassive, but his eyes were hard. "Considering the circumstances, it seemed to be the wisest choice of action."

"How can unfinished business like that be wise? Do enlighten me, Rikuo-sama."

Lips curling, Rikuo-sama spoke. "I did not judge it so out of any sense of compassion or mercy for a yokai who would _kill his own Hyakkiyakko for power_." Rikuo-sama let it hang there as this formality became something _more_ in face of an act like that. Focus almost visibly narrowed. "It was merely that the Inugamigyobu Danuki, an old acquaintance of grandfather's,who travelled all the way here to plead for his son's life is not someone to disregard. Had I chosen otherwise, we would have made a potential enemy where we are now owed a debt. Thinking of the future of the Nura Clan, I chose the most beneficial option. Do you still disagree?"

Hitotsume closed his mouth, looking away with a humph. His discontent quieted, no one else challenged Rikuo-sama.

"If there are no further objections with the Heir's actions," began Rihan-sama after long minutes of consideration and silence, "we can move onto this matter." He inclined his head at the cloth covered object. "What have you brought before us?"

Rikuo-sama reached out and, slowly, peeled layer after layer away, revealing a near broken blade, though the handle was kept covered. "I did not recall it until the moment I saw it's form. But there is little doubt, and I have had it confirmed. This is the weapon of the incident eight years ago."

Silence. It was as though the air had been turned into stone. The day Rihan-sama was stabbed.

"I have returned it," declared Rikuo-sama. "So that no one else may ever again use it against our clan."

Rihan-sama's face was unreadable.

Daruma recalled the day as clear as no other. A scream, then the horrible chaos that Rihan-sama was stabbed, no already dead, no completely fine, and in the end stabbed and on death's bed. The relief felt that Rikuo-sama was unhurt. The divine miracle that Rihan-sama had survived. The mood of the Shodaime before and after, and the decision on what to do with the blade that their healers had to extract from Rihan-sama's chest. Mere days later, the information that it had been stolen. Again, the mood of the Shodaime. The shame upon their clan brought on by those events.

With Rikuo-sama returning it, a blight has been cleared from the generals' honour by Rikuo-sama's hands.

Rikuo-sama tugged the cloth around the weapon again. The transfixed atmosphere was broken.

Rihan-sama spoke up, apparently untouched. "We will expect a complete report on losses and gains of the entire incident as well as its circumstances by next session. Until then you are excused. Good job, Rikuo."

Rikuo-sama smiled like sunshine and bowed once more before he left, taking the cursed blade with him.

Rihan-sama watched him go, smiling warmly in an entirely human way that disappeared the moment the door slid shut. "I expect there are no objections to naming Nura Rikuo officially Third and Second-in-Command."

Daruma had no doubt of the Young Master's abilities, and after this triumph if anyone else had they would not dare speak up.

* * *

"Would you look at what the wind blew in," Rihan drawled. "I thought for sure senility caught up with you and you got lost."

"Show a bit of respect for your father, brat," said father grumbled as his son casually dropped to his behind. "Take an example from Rikuo."

Rihan raised an eyebrow as if to say _really? Him?_ An expression which Rikuo mirrored right until the moment he noticed he did at which point he smoothed his face into a semblance of politeness.

Utter brats, the both of them. Why had he thought reproducing was a good idea again? "Show us, Rikuo," he said, and the amiable air disappeared.

Rikuo folded layers of cloth away, revealing a near broken blade, a rusty handle and an ofuda sticking to it. "I asked Keikain-san for a ward," he explained, a cold, hard hate deep in his eyes as he looked down on it. Carefully he laid it on the floor for his predecessors to study.

Rihan took the sight in with some interest but no recognition. Hardly surprising. His father on the other hand would never forget that _thing_ sticking out of his son's chest.

"Tamazuki mentioned something when we were fighting," Rikuo said, tapping his fingers against his lower arm. "He said he had been 'presented' with it. That someone had _offered_ it to him, this sword which can make any sufficiently ruthless creature into one of great power." He looked truly cold as he glanced at both his father and grandfather. "Considering that in context of this sword's history, something had to be done."

He met both their eyes. The first Nurarihyon knew what he was getting at – had this been any other sword Rikuo would not have looked at it twice regardless of its history. But it was the one that had nearly stolen that innocent boy's father, it was the one he had seen impaling his parent for as long as it took for help to arrive. Plus who knew what things he saw leading up to that.

"How was it stolen from us?"

The retired Shodaime gave an even look back at his fierce, passionate and all-to caring grandchild. "We don't know."

Rikuo's jaw clenched. "Then I've got to ask. Is it possible that we have a traitor within our ranks?"

"You ask that and yet you have already made preparations on the assumption that we do." The first to stand at the top of all spirits nodded his approval grimly. "Questioning the loyalty of those who have sworn their lives to you is an ugly matter and quite painful for all the involved. We must tread with caution."

Rihan bit down on a modern world chocolate stick that he was in the habit of carrying around since Rikuo was little. "What's your suggestion, Rikuo?"

Nurarihyon's one and only grandson hesitated. "Just keeping it stuffed away won't get us closer to the traitor -"

"If there is one," Rihan interjected calmly but insistent.

"If there is one. They could do damage in other ways. Maybe they have been doing so all the time and we just didn't noticed. But I think, if there is a chance they would come for the sword a second time, we should use that."

"They will."

Rihan and Rikuo both looked at him, expressions again identical.

The first Nurarihyon smirked smugly. "While you were busy with bureaucracy and responsibilities I had a little chat with the prisoner you brought back."

Rikuo's eyebrows rose.

"I take it there was more to her then than just an opportunistic yokai who picked the wrong sword to steal at the wrong time."

"Yes."

"...She still alive?"

"No."

Rikuo hummed, and that he didn't pull a face at his grandfather for the fact said a lot about his attitude towards all of those involved with the incident eight years ago. "Too bad. We could have used her to lead us back to her master."

"I doubt it. She committed suicide rather than to give up more information to me."

Briefly, Rikuo looked surprised, but then he shook his head. "Nevermind then. Anyway, if we use the sword as bait, it will be interesting to see who bites."

"In theory, I agree." Said Rihan, studying his son more than the sword. Absurdly, it seemed the one who was least invested in the case was the one who almost died. "But it has been stolen from us once and since we don't know how they did it, it might happen a second time."

Rikuo _smirked._ "Yeah, about that. What were the security measures back then? Cause I think I have an idea that _no one_ will expect." He was eager like a kid in a candy store.

Expectantly, father and son due looked at the father-and-grandfather. "Dear me. I suddenly feel old," sighed one of the most powerful yokai alive even in his advanced age. "Let me think…"

* * *

TBC


	6. friends' big brothers and duties

Act II

* * *

friends' big brothers and duties

* * *

"What? Onmoyji in town that aren't Yura?"

" _It looks that way, Young Master. Please return home. Unlike your friend from school, these do not seem to take exception to us."_

"You worry too much, Kurotabo," Rikuo said, smiling and waved at the rest from Kiyojuji Patrol to go ahead. "I'm human right now so whoever they are shouldn't be able to tell me apart from random people on the street. I'll be fine."

" _Young_ _M_ _aster -"_

Rikuo hung up.

More onmyoji. How...interesting.

Slipping out on the search for Yura, Rikuo folded his hands behind his head and casually headed in the direction of Yura's flickering ridiculous fire power.

If she had been fighting with someone, Rikuo would have gotten a report, but it still surprised him to find her training.

The abandoned building already looked well beaten too. Rikuo felt a bit guilty for not checking in on her earlier after that thing with Tamazuki.

"You're hard at work, Keikain-san," he observed, and she jumped at his voice.

"Nura-kun! Don't startle me. I could have shot you." But she smiled, if a bit unsure. In fact, everything about her looked to be unsure.

"That would have been bad," Rikuo grinned, not the smallest bit concerned that she would have, not when he looked like this, maybe not even when he looked different. "Thanks for checking first."

"….What are you doing here, Nura-kun?" She didn't ask how he found her.

"You haven't been to school in a while and summer holidays have started now. Everyone was worried, so we went looking." He looked around the training grounds a bit more closely. Always an eye on your surroundings, Itaku's voice said in his head. "You missed a trip to the Shogawa River Valley. It was beautiful. And full of yokai."

She bit her lip and looked away, shoulders burdened. "Even if I had come, I would have been of no use. I'm way too weak."

….huh?

"How did you get that idea? It's definitely wrong," Rikuo was able to tell her honestly. Everything else impressive about her aside, she was an onmyoji even his grandfather praised after all. "You spend all this time training. And on your own too. Without a teacher. That's _hard._ "

Yura turned her back. "And I haven't really accomplished anything because of it."

"- Want me to help you?"

She looked at him so fast, it was a wonder her neck didn't snap. "What?"

"...Er, I mean, is there anything I – or the others can help you with?" He hurried to correct and felt for a moment like he was five years old again, struggling with the way twilight messed with his head.

"Nura-kun, you -" Yura started, eyes wide.

Wooden sandals clicked on hard stone, echoing through the abandoned building.

Rikuo's eyes focused on it's origin on autopilot.

"Yura," the smaller of the traditionally dressed men said. "We told you to keep in touch with the Main House." And didn't _that_ phrase sound familiar, almost making Rikuo roll his eyes on habit alone. "Training all the way out here? You just need to walk through town if you need targets."

...That would be the onmyoji who they reported from bakeneko alley then. Nice guy.

Grinning widely was definitely not a good choice right now, not when the only doubt Yura still had was based on an ofuda that he had already bypassed when he visited her home. Which she knew.

"Onii-chan."

Oh?

The man's eyes slid over Rikuo. He stopped.

"Oi, Yura. Who is _that?_ "

Yura tensed all over. "No one. Just a friend from school."

She did not look in Rikuo's direction.

Rikuo raised an eyebrow at the man, who's altogether nasty expression only darkened. "You've got to be kidding me. That's a yokai."

Well.

This one wouldn't be any fun, Rikuo could already tell. "Oi. You go around accusing everyone you come across of that? People could take offence, Keikain-san's Onii-chan."

" _Nura-kun_ ," Yura hissed in warning.

"Hoh. Mouthy, aren't ya. For a filthy parasite."

"Onii-chan. Stop it." Yura tried, and Rikuo did _not lik_ e the way her voice sounded when she said that. Yura and pleading didn't belong in the same sentence unless there was a 'made someone' in there. "Nura-kun is just..." She wasn't even able to finish the sentence.

Rikuo folded his hands into the sleeves of his yukata and smiled his best innocent smile. "We're friends from school and we belong to the same club. A Yokai Search club, that is. Maybe that's what got you confused? We did run into a really interesting one just the other day."

He could almost see the blood pressure of Yura's brother rise. Hey, maybe he wasn't so boring after all.

Yura would have spluttered or shouted something, but her brother only pulled out two bamboo flasks.

"Onii-chan!" Yura protested.

And _stepped in front of Rikuo._

What?

"Oi, Yura -"

"Shut up, you. Onii-chan, stop it! Nura-kun isn't the enemy. Here, look." She smacked an ofuda to Rikuo's forehead again.

Urgh.

Twilight was already past its prime. His blood was stirring. That ofuda _hurt_.

Very carefully, Rikuo pulled it off his skin and handed it back to Yura.

"See." She said triumphantly. "He can't be a yokai."

Her brother just looked even more irritated. "You fool," he said flatly. "That just means he's skilled enough to slip past your wards. Which means he's all the more dangerous." His eyes narrowed. "Step aside, Yura."

"No."

Her small back and narrow shoulders stood solidly in front of Rikuo.

Her brother's voice pitched dangerously low. "What?"

"I gave you proof. If you are trying to harm a human, then I will stop you." Her goldfish shikigami grew to her hand. "You can't hurt Nura-kun."

Her brother stared. "You are serious." There was note of disbelief in his voice. His eyes darkened. "Garou!" He called. A shikigami that looked more like a yokai bubbled into form. " _Devour_."

Yura shot.

Rikuo took careful steps back to give them some room. Sibling against sibling. There was something wrong about this. ( _Onee-chan, who're you?_ ) How the hell did this happen?

Had this been a long time coming or something?

Or, er. Was this maybe Rikuo's fault?

If it was, he couldn't just skip out on them while they were occupied with each other. Not that he would have. Just, you know…

...The outcome was going to be his responsibility, wasn't it?

Speaking of responsibilities, as Third he couldn't just leave two aggressive onmoyji run around Nura territory unsupervised.

The second onmyoji just stood to the side as well, though he had not taken his eyes of Rikuo once. That was skill. Rikuo focused back on the fight.

And wow, Yura's brother was brutal. There was such a thing as though love (and or teaching), like what Itaku did, and then there was this.

It was never easy to watch while was being protected.

Being protected – Rikuo had his issues with that.

This-

Yura had no obligation to protect him. She didn't even know him long. She _knew_ he was a yokai. Yet she got beaten up for standing in front of him.

What the hell?

 _...Why_ was he standing on the side again?

Rikuo moved.

Yura was cold in his grip. Her body was trembling and she needed a number of blinks to focus enough to recognize what had happened. "You moron," she choked. Water dripped from her and out of her. "How's this going to be fine now?"

He set her down behind the remains of a wall. She looked defeated, and not just in the physical sense.

Her brother meanwhile...Rikuo turned.

"So you've shown your true face." Water gathered at the feet of Yura's brother, forming back into attack dogs. "How _dare_ you deceive my sister, filthy yokai."

"That's funny coming from you." Rikuo leaned his blade against his shoulder, not even facing the onmyoji completely. From the corner of his eye, he looked down on him, calculated to provoke. "I was just thinking how you're curler than most yokai."

"It's necessary, for humans to beat yokai." The onmyoji opened another of those bamboo flasks. More water poured out, spirit energy rose. "Shikigami fusion. Gyogen." Flowers, silverly gleaming in the fading light and rising darkness, bloomed in the air.

"Yet your sister is neither yokai nor like you and she does fine." Rikuo observed, and slashed one of those flowers in half.

They burned. Worse than sunlight, worse than Yura's canon. He dodged the next wave. Eyes narrowed, Rikuo recalculated. "What are those?"

"Heh," the evil big brother smirked. "Most people don't know. Water in its purest form is more dangerous than acid."

Rikuo slashed at one and vanished. The drops of liquid only hit his after-image. "In other words," Rikuo said from the other end of the flower field, making them jump, "it's just a matter of not getting hit."

They came at him in a wave.

The point was to move faster than drops were able to fall. It took precision and more patience than Rikuo usually employed in his fights but he managed. Eventually there were only five left. Then two. None.

With an arc of his sword, drops of liquid splattered from his blade to the ground. "That was fun," Rikuo stated casually. "Wanna have another go or are you willing to talk now, onmyoji."

"Heh," Yura's brother said, and made a sign with his hands.

Runes started glowing in the ground around Rikuo's feet.

"Gyogen. Konjosui Formation," summoned the dangerous, _lethal_ onmyoji.

An entire tank worth of that water spilled out of the ground and swallowed Rikuo's form.

Uh-oh.

"I'm not that talented. It takes a bit of time to form one of those," he said coldly, without regret. The menacing features became a little less offensive when they turned away from the remains. "Now you see, Yura. You shouldn't bother giving your time to yokai."

Oi. "Honestly," Rikuo said, holding his sword to the onmyoji's neck, letting himself be visible. "Be it Yura or you. Doesn't anyone do their research before they enter a territory anymore?" Rikuo felt a bit miffed.

"Wha-"

Yura clapped her hands before her mouth. "Onii-chan."

Light of the moon glinted off the blade as Rikuo changed its angle slightly. "As if you can capture a Nurarihyon with a trap like that."

Pause. Minimal changes in body posture.

"Nura – Oh, the- "

And because humans were extraordinarily stubborn in nature, Rikuo ran Nenekirimaru (which the Nidaime still didn't need) through the guy before he could do more than think of attacking again.

Might to something to exorcize that evil nature of him – irony of irony.

Yura made a gasp of horror.

How annoying. And with that he meant the second onmoyji who suddenly tore Rikuo's illusion apart like paper. That could have hurt.

Under the cover of Kyouka Suigetsu, Rikuo observed this one. There was something very different about him.

Whatever it was though, didn't stop Rikuo from strolling by behind the onmyoji while he was attacking the latest after-image.

Sitting down on a collapsed bit of wall, Rikuo eyed the berserking powerhouse and the lying liar who was slowly recovering from the shock of being cut without being hurt. Rikuo was fairly sure there was a reason they came as a team and it wasn't to be intimidating.

"Onii-chan," Yura breathed. "You...aren't hurt?"

As if Rikuo would.

But going by her brother's expression he would have preferred being cut down. "What sort of trickery – " Evil Brother cut himself off and studied his unhurt body. After a moment, he growled. "That sword of his is a spirit blade." He glowered around, particularly into shadows. "Oi, yokai bastard! What's the meaning of this?"

Rikuo remained silent but he did let go of Kyouka Suigestu. Might get messy and confusing otherwise for all the involved, which were about to become a lot more.

Presence perceived, Yura's big brother slowly turned to face him. There was something ugly in his expression but it was also less bull headed. First step achieved.

The man eyed Rikuo before he let his eyes drop to the blade in Rikuo's lap.

His lips twisted in a sneer.

Rikuo waited.

That human attack dog didn't.

Not bothering to move, Rikuo watched Kubinashi's strings ensnare those sparking fingers. There was a pissed expression on one of his father's most loyal. "Dare take another step, human, and you will _regret_ it."

Fear manifested as mist, ghostly light bathed the area in blue. The Hyakkiyakko had arrived. Rikuo allowed himself to drop his guard slightly and glanced at them all doubtfully. "Did the old man send you?"

Kurotabo's eyes did not leave the onmyoji even as he bowed. "We came of our own violation, Young Master. Letting you play with onmyoji out of sight is not good for our hearts." Pause. "Though I must admit that Rihan-sama was most amused when we requested leave."

Yura's brother turned, turned, and turned until he had completed a full circle. When his eyes fell on Rikuo again, he seemed to think Rikuo was an alien. "Who the hell are you?"

Rikuo smirked. The lazy, sharp way with which he studied Yura's brother took hold on its own. "I am the Young Master of Kanto's great yokai family, the Nura Clan." He sheathed Nenekirimaru in his lap. "Grandson of the Shodaime, son of the Nidaime, Sandaime Heir Apparent, Nura Rikuo." His lips curled. "Like I said, do your research."

Yura clenched her fists, uneasily glowering at all the yokai even though she still looked ready to kneel over. "See, Onii-chan. If you exterminate him, we'll have war – Wait. _Nurarihyon's_ _ **what**_?" Her voice jumped about three octaves higher.

"Nurarihyon's...grandson?" Yura's brother whose name Rikuo still didn't know made face like he tasted something bitter. " _Grandson_? What the fucking hell are the onmoyji around here doing?"

Good question.

"They're employed by us," stated Rikuo, just to see the face that uptight stick in the mud pulled.

It was well worth it. Yura choked on her own spit.

"Rikuo-sama," Kurotabo scolded.

Rikuo smirked. "What? It's not like they know the truth."

Kurotabo's eyebrows shot up. It took him a brief moment to catch up with Rikuo's ploy. When he did, he deferred, "Of course," and smirked. Chuckles ghosted all around.

"What? _What_?" Yura got out. " _Are_ they now or aren't they paid off?"

Rikuo grinned and said nothing.

"Don't buy into it, Yura," her obviously less naive brother cut in, voice strained to a painful degree. At least some of it was annoyance at his sister which Rikuo further took as a good sign. "Can't you see he's playing mindgames with you?"

Yura's mouth dropped open in indignation, Rikuo's grin widened into a smirk and her brother said to her, "What _ever_. I'm not send here to put up with this." He completely seemed to dismiss every present yokai and wow, not everyone could pretend that good. "Yura, two of our brothers are dead. Two barriers have fallen. The message from the main house is this: _They_ are on the move." He gave her a tolerant glance. "You're ordered to return."

Ominous. Also more than just slightly intriguing.

"They. You mean," Yura breathed, _frightened,_ "Hagoromo Kitsune?"

\- What.

Hagoromo Kitsune.

Rikuo's heart jumped three beats.

(Onee-chan, who're you?) Rikuo wasn't the only who suddenly had a lot sharper interest in this conversation.

Her brother snorted. "Who else? Mamiru, we're leaving. Come back to Kyoto, Yura."

"Wha- Onii-chan!" Yura called, but her wounds stopped her from actually running after him.

The onmyoji duo left, kicking the smaller yokai in their way out of it.

Before the black forms were completely out of sight, energy rushed out of the ground – an unused trap, apparently. Yokai eeped.

"Rikuo-sama," Kejoro said quietly, advice in her tone.

Rikuo slid down from his perch on the wall. "Tsurara."

"Yes, Young Master?" The yukionna responded, making Yura choke on an " _Oikawa-san?_ _!_ _"_

"Take her with us and treat her wounds. She got them on my behalf." He tossed his head back and looked at the Parade. "We're leaving."

They cheered as they generally did when ordered as a whole. Only Tsurara and Yura made noises of horror.

* * *

TBC


	7. old grudges and vacations and enemies

Act II

* * *

old grudges and vacations and enemies

* * *

"So," Rikuo said, leaning against the paper door. "Hagoromo Kitsune. I guess I know now what had your attention so caught up in the west. Why wasn't I allowed to know?" His expression was very unhappy indeed.

A Rikuo unhappy with his father was usually followed by headaches (and amusement) for Rihan. And chaos.

Rihan mourned his dinner which he would now have to eat cold. "It had less to do with 'allowed' and more with 'need'." He shifted his weight back on his hands to more comfortably observe his son. "The fox turns up every century by nature, though she hasn't for four. That caused lots of rumors. It could have still only been that – a rumor."

"So all this tension, all these preparations have only been for a rumor." When Rihan didn't say anything Rikuo's expression turned disbelieving. "What kind of yokai is she – she can't be that powerful."

"Hmm. Unfortunately, she is. We'd prepare for war even if she didn't have a bone to pick with us."

Rikuo's eyebrows shot up.

"The old man killed her once. Was sealed then." Rihan clarified.

"But now she's been reborn."

"Or so we hear."

"In Kyoto."

"Yes."

"I'm going."

"No."

"Yes."

"No, you aren't." Rihan said. "I'll make it an order if I have to."

Rikuo's face turned red with anger. He faced Rihan fully, dangerously reckless.

"Someone needs to take care of the Main House." Rihan pointed out before the ability to reason was lost.

Rikuo stilled. "...What about you?"

Rihan raised his eyes and met his son's gaze. "I'm going."

Silence.

"Then I'm too. The geezer can stay here."

"He won't."

"Well neither will I."

Rihan climbed to his feet and approached his child. Rikuo was still more than a head smaller. "Why do you want to go so much?"

"Yura is my friend. I won't abandon her."

"Is that all?"

Rikuo's eyes _burned_. "What _other_ reason could there be?"

"...You tell me."

Remaining silent, Rikuo held his gaze.

Rihan pulled so many breaks in Rikuo's life, sometimes he wondered where the boy would have run to without them. If he would have been alive to run. Cooling blood wasn't possible, Rihan knew that better than anyone. But it could be directed and focused.

"I'm ordering you to stay here and deal with the other matter."

Rikuo's fists clenched.

"Hey," Rihan said, softer, and tilted his son's face up with the tip of a finger. "Trust your old man, why don't you. The Keikain are far too valuable allies to leave to themselves in this and I'm sure there are some who'll want to watch over your friend just cause you wish it. 'kay?"

* * *

"And that's why we're going on a trip to Kyoto!" Proclaimed Kiyotsugu-kun. "Without a doubt we'll see yokai there."

"I can't come along," Rikuo-kun said. "Sorry."

"Me neither," added Okikawa-san, standing half a step behind Rikuo. "That's a really bad idea at the moment."

"It's dangerous, don't go." Finished Rikuo-kun.

Kana looked from them to Kiyotsugu, Shima, Toori and Maki.

Kiyotsugu-kun looked as though someone had told him the sun rose in the west. "What? You two, you can't possibly miss it! This is the chance of a lifetime to see the Lord of Darkness in person!" Kiyotsugu leaned into their faces. "Even Ienaga-san is coming!"

"What?" Rikuo-kun yelped.

"Hey, I never said that," Kana protested, feeling her cheeks heat. "Just that Kyoto would be nice around this time of the year."

"Exactly! It's yokai prime season! If you miss this, you can't call yourselves Kiyojuji Paranormal Investigation Squad members!"

Kana met Rikuo-kun's eyes hesitantly. He feverishly shook his head behind Kiyotsugu-kun's back.

"But maybe it's not that good an idea. I heard its supposed to be really hot there around this time..." Kana tried.

No effect. It was as if Kiyotsugu hadn't even heard her.

"Oh, come on, Kana-chan." Maki slung an arm around her shoulder. "It's a chance for all-paid for vacation. All it'll take is some yokai talk. When do you think you'll get an opportunity like this again?"

"Please come, please come, please come," pleaded Toori. "We don't want to go alone with two perverted boys. People will think we're couples."

"...er," said Kana, and looked helplessly at Rikuo-kun.

Who rubbed his hands over his face tiredly before he gave the yukionna a significant look. She pulled a face and they had a conversation without words. It ended with Oikawa-san muttering visibly unhappy, "I changed my mind, I'm coming after all."

Shima cheered. Poor guy.

Kiyotsugu-kun gestured dramatically. "Wonderful, Oikawa-kun! Now the only one missing is Nura-kun. What do you have to say for yourself? Speak and we shall listen to your excuses and convince you of their worthlessness!"

Going by Rikuo's face he had entirely too much to say and far too little patience to deal with Kiyotsugu today. "I'm tied up with family business," he grouched, and Kana felt very worried because when he said things frankly without misdirection it was never good. "Dad is going on a business trip."

Kiyotsugo dropped his posturing. "Oh well. That can't be helped." He clapped Rikuo-kun on the shoulder. "Hang tight, Nura-kun!"

Rikuo-kun gaped, Kana had to pick her own jaw up. The others didn't seem to fare any better.

"Worry not, Nura-kun! We shall make a throughout gathering of information for you that you may study when we are back." Kiyotsugu-kun beamed convincingly.

"Thanks," Rikuo-kun said, drily. "I can't wait. Hearing about how much fun you had in Kyoto, that is."

...For the first time it dawned on Kana how much Rikuo-kun wanted to go. Really, really wanted to go. But didn't. He _didn't_.

Kana didn't know Rikuo-kun to miss out on _anything_ he wanted, no matter how small or big or petty. What he wanted, he _got._

Except this apparently.

She tired to imagine what could make him say no and suddenly Kyoto didn't seem as inviting anymore.

* * *

"Rikuo-sama, I don't think sitting sitting in your quarters all day is healthy. Won't you go out?"

"I'll go later. Can't say I particularly want to see how all the preparations are going knowing I'm not coming along."

Tsurara tilted her head. "Are you sulking, Rikuo-sama?"

"...What if I am?"

"I would advise you not to forget to what it is the Nidaime will be heading out and his reasons for leaving you behind."

Rikuo-sama's fingers clenched around the device he had been stubbornly staring at every minute of the day when he was not otherwise occupied. "The old man will be fine."

"Of course. However, Rikuo-sama, you must be aware that this is a long enemy of the Clan." Tsurara serenely kept her position at his side, legs folded beneath her as yokai hurried by the opened shoji screens. Hopefully Rikuo-sama would not take the concern in her voice the wrong way. "It will be different from any other time where Rihan-sama has headed out without you."

"...I know that," Rikuo-sama muttered.

"As long as you do," Tsurara agreed, smiling as she saw the way Rikuo-sama's glare acknowledged his father's existence of the first time in days. "Rihan-sama will be leaving by nightfall. Still plenty of time to change your mind."

"I wouldn't have to change my mind if he just let me to come along," her Master said under his breath.

Tsurara sighed. The Young Master could be such a child sometimes. (And other times Tsurara forgot his age entirely….)

They sat without speaking for a long time, though it could not be said that it was quiet. The house was never silent, but now in particular it was loud. By this time tomorrow the house was going to be near empty. (Tsurara had her own things to pack for Kyoto too...but she would not do so while Rikuo-sama was upset.)

Rikuo-sama must be feeling left out. Was there anything Tsurara could say to him that would make him see it wasn't so? Certainly he knew all the intellectual reasons, but how could he be made to _feel_ that Rihan-sama only had the best of intentions and desired Rikuo-sama to be safe?

But maybe that was the problem. Rikuo-sama did not (ever) want to stay safe when people he cared about weren't and most of the time not even when they were safe. Such reckless passionate nature surely troubled Rikuo-sama a great deal in times like this.

The onmyoji girl was not someone he ought to care about but Rikuo-sama found her entertaining so he had gotten attached and now it was too late. That was Tsurara's failure. If only she had guarded him better!

Surely she could have gotten the girl thrown out or transferred to another school long before Rikuo-sama ever returned from Toono. Why hadn't she? She internally wailed.

To be worthy of standing at Rikuo-sama's back, she had to try harder!

"Rikuo-sama, I -"

She froze.

Rikuo-sama was gone.

It wasn't even night time yet and Tsurara still lost sight of him!

Incompetent!

"Rikuo-sama! Where are you?"

* * *

"Rihan-sama, a moment."

Rihan's gaze slid to Kuromaru. "I guess expecting a quiet farewell was too much. What has he done now?"

"Not here, Rihan-sama."

He sighed. "I guess I can leave the guys alone if its only for the Kobanbunes' loading."

Kuromaru lead the way into the deeper parts of the mansion, down into the third basement.

"It just had to be," lamented Rihan. There was only one thing worth of note down here. In addition, the Clan was busy with activity so many yokai went in and out of the basement. Not inapplicable for anyone with a sinister motive.

Such a shame.

As expected, Rikuo waited in front of a heavily sealed door. Not entirely expected there was no cold shoulder for Rihan. Instead Rikuo seemed to be focusing his ire on the poor door. Thumping was heard from inside and a voice, though the words were unintelligible.

"Want to enlighten me?" Rihan prompted.

Rikuo tossed him one of those fancy toys that the youth seemed to go through faster than hens laid eggs. "What's this?"

"The security feed. Go back twenty minutes and watch."

Rihan did. When he finished all thoughts of going to Kyoto were very distant. "Kuromaru, call in the commanders."

"Already done, Lord."

"Get Kubinashi, Kejoro and Kurotabo. They'll secure the prisoner and escort him upstairs when called. Tell the old man that our trip will be delayed. Arrange that all assets are frozen and sized. Take over the branch house. Investigate it and all members thoroughly. I'm asking a lot, but I don't want anyone but the Karasu Tengu Overseers involved. Rikuo, come on."

Kuromaru vanished. Rikuo fell into step beside him, arms crossed and a hard, calculating air still growing around him.

Rihan smiled. "If you keep nibbling your lips, no girl'll want to kiss them."

Rikuo glanced at him distractedly until the words visibly sunk in and he turned dark red. "Sh- shut up old man!" Still so innocent, darkness aside. So cute. "What's that got to do with anything?!"

"Nothing at all. Just doing my fatherly duty. Since you are at that age now."

It felt like Rikuo's flushed face reached the heat of a furnace as he bit out denials and curses at Rihan. With a father like Nurarihyon Rihan didn't do things like showing mercy but he did worry that Rikuo might catch a fever, so he laid off.

"I'll leave the clean up of this to you," he stated, switching subjects and moods like weather in April.

Rikuo gave him one last long glower before he cooled back into assessing consideration. "Three hundred plus years to go through. If he'd been a traitor from the beginning, he either had legendary patience or he would have acted like Gogaze did, sooner rather than later."

"Not a traitor," Rihan corrected. "Replaced. We don't know for how long, but don't be rude to the memory of the replaced."

"That's not how I meant it," Rikuo rolled his eyes.

"But not everyone knows that. If you want to be Third, you've got to watch your choice of words."

The typical Nurarihyon pace at which they left the basement had given the rest of the Clan commanders more than enough time to assemble.

Little serving demons slid the shoji doors aside. From Nurarihyon himself to Gyuki and Hitotsume, everyone was present. Everyone but Mitsume Yazura. In an emergency meeting.

The absence was glaringly obvious.

Rihan lowered to his seat front and centre, his father to his left, his son to his right.

"What is going on Rihan-sama?" Hitotsume demanded, little patience as always. "What happened?"

Rihan didn't say anything.

Hitotsume didn't ask again. No one else did.

The eyes of the Second Head slid over his assembled council. The longer the silence continued, the more uneasy they got. The quality of Fear lost the tang caused by the summon's suddenness and gained apprehension. A number of them darted looks at the hole of Mitsume Yazura and noted the absence of Karasu Tengu in the back.

Rihan ignited and took a breath of his father's pipe, whose eye would have twitched in annoyance under different circumstances at having yet again his favorite nicked.

What a mess they had - if there was one thing couldn't wait to pass on to Rikuo, it was _messes -_ where things got muddled, complicated, _annoying_. Though, granted this situation went right past annoying and into infuriating. On that note, he had probably let his council simmer long enough. Rihan began. "The sword Mao's Hammer. Rikuo had taken care of its security. Not an hour ago this security was breached." Rihan blew out smoke. It settled and darkened the room. "By Mitsume Yazura."

The sound of breath sucked in reached Rihan's ears. Others stilled as the reason for the assembly became _clear_.

"Rihan-sama. Are you accusing the Head of the Three-Eyed Party?" Daruma voiced, not doubtful but wishing for clarification. He seemed to take it as his role to be an interpreter between the Council and its Heads.

"I'm doing no such thing." Rihan stated. "Hereby I am announcing the passing of Mitsume Yazura at an unknown time. There is no doubt he would have rather died than be impersonated."

Again, the mood swung. Rihan read apprehension, anger and no small amount of utter deference as it became more and more obvious that Rihan was _pissed_.

Hitotsume pounded a fist into the floor. "Who would dare such a thing? Impersonating a Council Member! We must make them pay!"

"Where is this filth now?" The second Head of the Great Ape Alliance questioned.

Rihan made a gesture with his hand. "Bring him in."

The double shoji doors opposite of Rihan were slid open. A figure hardly recognizable in the coils of Kubinashi's Kejoro-supported strings was dragged between the two rows of generals by the two capture specialists. "Nidaime," they bowed, knelt, and held position behind the lump of prisoner.

"Show it."

Kubinashi hesitated for a brief second, but the strings and hair slid aside. It revealed an eye-less, skull like figure, whose most poignant trait was the form of it's head. Brain-like.

By Kubinashi's strings it was not allowed to speak, but it did radiate animosity. It's Fear...seemed familiar. Familiarly fake-ish.

The ranks of Rihan's ayakashi stirred.

He gave a nod. "Let it speak."

The moment strings loosened, words came tumbling out.

"Curse you! _Curse you Nura Rihan!_ _ **Curse**_ _you!_ _Curse the Nura Clan! Hateful Nura Clan! Curse you Nura Rikuo! Curse you! Curseyou! CurseyouCurseyou_ curseyou _ **curseyou**_ _Nura! I will kill you! Kill you! How dare you! We will come back and **kill you**! Sanmoto Gorozaemon-"_

" _Enough."_

Pandemonium broke out.

"Sanmoto Gorozaemon?!"

"Impossible! The Second defeated him threehundred years ago!"

"What is this yokai? Gorozaemon was human!"

Rihan let them.

It was a shame Rikuo's surveillance tapes had not included audio, because if Riahn had known this beforehand Rikuo sure would not be sitting in on this.

His son exchanged glances with his friend from the Great Ape Alliance. Both of them were too young to have heard that name.

But really. Gorozaemon?

That guy probably was petty enough to be irritated about that thing three centuries ago. But this? Rihan must have pissed him off more than he had known.

….aaah.

He didn't want to deal with that guy again. So annoying. It made him beyond angry that a creature _like that_ was responsible for taking one of his generals from him.

If he weren't also incredibly dangerous when pushed into a corner Rihan would appreciate the fact that Rikuo suddenly didn't seem all that upset to not come to Kyoto anymore. Rikuo may actually prefer staying here as it would explain a lot if this issue was connected to the thing eight years ago. If so...

(Otou-sama.)

Rihan didn't actually want him involved with Gorozaemon. That was irony for you.

Sanmoto Gorozaemon.

"All this," he nodded at the prisoner with a look between condescending and disgust, "will be left to the Third Heir. Departure to Kyoto is delayed until every Clan in a list of dealings with the Three-Eyed Party. It will prove important to discovering this one's motives and actions, past and future. The branch is under lock down until we know who knew and who didn't know of this, all dealings are prohibited. We'll smoke those bastards out and crush them. The Hoko Clan will deal with the prisoner. Drag everything out and report to Rikuo."

"Yes, Lord!"

"Daruma, you will stay here and advise my son. Rikuo, I trust you know who you want at your side for this. Don't consider your job done until there's only dust left."

"Understood."

"Yes, father."

Rihan clicked his pipe into the ashtray. "Good. Meeting adjourned."

* * *

TBC


	8. explorations, discoveries and grudges

Act II

* * *

explorations, discoveries and grudges

* * *

"Hey, Gozu. Do you and Mezu happen to be free?"

Suspicion was immediately thick in Gozu's voice. " _Depends. What do you want us for?_ _I can't just leave the mountain on your whim."_

"You're guarding west." Rikuo countered. "You're just being dramatic. With the stuff going on in Kyoto, there's not anything going to come from there. Leave, maybe. But not come."

Gozumaru's sigh was long-suffering over the line. " _Fine. I still want to know what we're getting ourselves into, though."_

"Come and find out." Rikuo hung up.

That was the last call he could do with modern ways. Then again that was probably a good thing since Nura Clan internal business wasn't anything he should drag his Toono friends into. Itaku for sure didn't have the patience for what looked to be a long investigation with only the occasional ass-kicking.

 _A human wanting power,_ that's what Daruma had explained. The power of yokai and power over yokai. Greedy bastard more slimy than most then, who fed on fellow humans. Ew.

Slimy, underhanded, but also smart and subtle. Evidently knew how to play the long game.

Clan of a Hundred Tales.

The sun burned down. Rikuo sat in the sakura tree, both legs dangling over the side as he gazed at the main house and the chaotic activity caused by Kyoto preparations plus internal unrest.

It was pretty bad.

They were caught between two fronts. Or one front and one parasite.

The parasite almost killed his dad all those years ago. Rikuo remembered only flashes. The puddle of blood growing. Some…. _one_. Screaming.

Dad swallowed from his sight.

Hearing the words 'dying' and 'everything will be alright, Rikuo-sama'. The panic everywhere. Grandpa.

Getting more puzzled and upset when dad was gone and he couldn't see him for weeks. Becoming afraid.

Dad turned out being fine. But it was too late, because Rikuo got a taste of it. A taste of fear and fear of loss.

It _might_ be possible that Rikuo was still a tiny bit upset about that.

(He never wanted to feel that way again.)

Sanmotot Gorozaemon or at least a yokai minion of his probably pulled the strings eight years ago. The guy himself might still be dead but his followers evidently hadn't all been wiped out three hundred years ago. While that was well possible, there was also the chance that someone was merely using the name. In any case though, Rikuo might be looking at something as big as a Clan. That meant a lot of agents. Hidden agents. Meaning spread out, wearing different faces and names. Sleeper agents.

Rikuo might end up stirring up more than one yokai family out there if they end up being infiltrated, meaning trouble on two fronts could very quickly become more. Caution was called for but Rikuo had no intention whatsoever of letting even pet of the Hyaku Mongatari Clan escape unscratched because it found itself a nice new owner to hide behind.

Then again there was also the possibility that only remnants remained of them and that those remnants were mad enough to try take on the Nura on their own without even realizing their folly (for if they had, then Rikuo would be looking at the Clan-scenario again). Those remnants would be nothing to worry about on a large scale and only launching a strike every once in a while when the odds looked good. Like using an ambitious tanuki for example.

Rikuo jumped over the wall, heard Tsurara's shout of frustration, and went on a walk.

Whatever was going to happen, the Nura Clan would emerge greater than ever before. Rikuo would make it so.

* * *

"Rikuo-sama?"

"What?"

Tsurara traded a meaningful glance with the Gozumaru.

"What are we doing in this place?"

Rikuo-sama gave her a glance that was slightly more expressive now than it would be when night fell. "What's wrong with coming personally?"

"It is not so much what is wrong," she hedged.

"For the Heir to walk into a possible enemy and or trap infested ground isn't a smart idea. That's what she's trying to get through your thick skul." Gozumaru said bluntly.

"Gozumaru!"

"What? It's true."

Rikuo-sama smiled. "I see you're still annoyed."

"Damn right I am! We didn't come all the way from Nejirame-yama to play watchdog for a reckless moron."

"Gozumaru!"

"So you _didn't_ want to come inspect a potential enemy stronghold which may or may not be bursting with dangers." Rikuo-sama said drily. "I'll remember -"

"I didn't say that!" Gozumaru cut in quickly. "It's the _you_ being here that's the problem!"

Tsurara tried to catch her master's eye. "Exactly, Rikuo-sama. You could have gotten a report back at the main house."

Rikuo-sama only looked very put-upon."...I c _ould_ have come alone, you know."

"That's even worse," Tsurara and Gozumaru said in tandem with very different tones, one horrified and one annoyed.

Gozumaru folded his arms. "I pity you bastards at the Main House. One Nurarihyon. Two Nurarihyons. Three Nurarihyons. How do you ever get anything done if you got to run after each and every one of them? Like glorified babysitters."

Tsurara felt her mouth drop open. "Excuse you, you backwoods bug! Serving the Masters at the Main House is a great honour!"

After looking at her for a long moment, Gozumaru rolled his eyes, muttering something no doubt insulting under his breath.

Tsurara decided that barbarian without respect was no longer worth her attention. "Rikuo-sama, why did you call someone like this? I on my own am more than capable of protecting you."

"I doubt that," Gozumaru said snidely.

"I enjoy hearing you bicker," said Rikuo-sama without a backwards glance.

Tsurara spluttered.

He grinned over his shoulder. "Just kidding. What's wrong with inviting friends on an adventure? It's more fun together."

"Friends? Rikuo-sama, couldn't you have chosen someone other than this bug brained minion?"

"Oi!"

"Yes, friends, Tsurara. And I mean you too."

Tsurara's brain died. "F-f-f-f-f-f-friends, Rikuo-sama? I-I-I-I-I d-d-don't k-know what t-t-t-o say. Me? I'm unworthy Rikuo-sama." She had to check if her face had melted yet.

Bug boy snorted. "You're acting like he just asked you to marry him."

"M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-a-a-a-a—a-a-"

"Oi, Gozumaru, quit it. She looks like she is going to melt."

"...What are _you_ turning red for?"

Rikuo-sama _kicked_ the disrespectful _brat_.

"Urgh. Suddenly I feel like a third wheel. Where's Mezu? I think I prefer turning over rocks with him."

The air moved as a new body joined them. "Rikuo-sama!"

At the familiar, tense voice Tsurara peeked out behind her sleeves.

"A report from the Main House! 'The sword has been taken. The perpetrator is of yet unknown. The guards have all been killed.'" The only daughter of Karasu Tengu reported, kneeling. Signs of the no doubt breakneck speed used to report to Rikuo-sama as quickly as possible were visible in her ruffled hair and feathers.

"Stolen?" Gozumaru hissed. "Really, _what_ are you yokai from the Main House doing? Isn't Headquarters supposed to be the most secure place of all?"

Master Rikuo didn't move. He stood as he did before Sasami-san had arrived, still in mid-step. His expression was unreadable but the spark in his eyes was dark and cold. "Odd," he murmured at long last.

"It's more than just odd," Gozumaru growled. "I can't keep up count how many times the Main House fell short in the last decade alone!"

"Not that," Rikuo-sama said darkly, turning and continuing deeper into the main house of the Three-Eyed Party. "They still had the ability to remove something from our custody without us noticing. Why then did they choose the sword and not the yokai who according to my latest knowledge claims to be Sanmoto Gorozaemon himself – who should be their Head. That claim hasn't changed yet, has it?"

"No such information reached me," confirmed Sasami-san.

"That yokai was transferred away from the Main House. Maybe they could only take something from the Main House," scowled Gozumaru. "Like, you've got another impersonator or a real traitor."

Rikuo-sama smiled grimly. "But Gorozaemon _used_ to be at the Main House. Why not act then unless the sword is for some reason more important?"

"Rikuo-sama. You had been at the Main House then." Tsurara reminded him. "You and the Nidaime and the Shodaime. It would have been foolish to attempt."

Rikuo-sama considered. "Perhaps." He slid open a shoji door. Rows and rows of yokai sat, all but bound to their knees by the suspicion of treason cast upon them by the actions of their false-Head. They were prisoners in their own home. "Oi, one of you give me a tour of the compound."

"You are not returning to the Main House yet, Rikuo-sama?" Sasami-san wished to clarify as the tree-eyed clan member's debated with looks only who got the chance to be helpful to the heir – and thus gain a chance to prove their innocence.

Rikuo-sama frowned, eyes focused."It's already over. There is nothing I can do back there now. The Hoho Clan will already be increasing security on Gorozaemon. No," he said. "What I need to know is what kind of enemy we are dealing with. The best chance I have for that is here."

Sasami-san bowed and disappeared.

One small servant yokai had shuffled to the front of the crowd, keeling all the way down.

Rikuo-sama looked at it, brown eyes hard but not without sympathy. "I want to see Mitsume Yazura's quarters and know all about his habits. You can do that?"

The little one all but flattened to the floor in deference. "Anything, honoured Young Master."

Rikuo-sama smiled and tapped his sheathed sword against his shoulder. "Lead the way."

The Three-Eyed Party's base was not as old as the Main House but it was the same style, traditional to the last. The signs of yokai were far more obvious here too and Tsurara doubted Rikuo-sama could have invited his friends here and gotten away with feigning innocence.

The small ko-oni stopped in front of a set of Shoji doors. "Mitsume-sama's quarters, Rikuo-sama." It slid the door open for the Young Master. "About three decades ago Mitsume-sama said he wished for more privacy, so we are only allowed to enter the first chambers. To my knowledge none of us have disrespected his wishes since."

"If you had it probably would have saved us a lot of trouble," Gozumaru muttered.

Rikuo-sama didn't even hesitate to breach said area of privacy. Tsurara jumped to shield him from any possible trap, but nothing happened. No fire, no poison, no spears, no holes in the ground swallowed them all.

In fact, the second inner room was no different than you would expect of the chairman of a branch. An unfinished letter on the desk, ink and a brush, art on the walls.

"What the hell," Rikuo-sama muttered and opened the next door, the one to the most inner room.

Nothing again. Just sleeping quarters, a made futon on the floor.

"What did the hell Mitsume do when he wasn't around for his servants to fawn over him?" Wondered Gozumaru, a look of deep suspicion on his face. "And how much time was that anyway?"

The little Oni did not once raise his gaze above knee level. "Whenever Mitsume-sama would return from the Main House, he would inform us if any tasks had changed. If they had, he would conscientiously instruct us. If not he would leave us and withdraw to his quarters as there are many responsibilities only he as head can complete."

That sounded very wrong to Tsurara. As Supreme Commander Rihan-sama had far more duties to attend to yet in all of Tsurara's years with the clan, he had always had time to, er, entertain himself, irritate his closest guards into searching for him all over the region and for Wakana-sama and Rikuo-sama.

"So in other words when he wasn't ordering you around you didn't see hide or hair of him." Gozumaru summed up, rolling his eyes. "And you didn't think that suspicious at all. God save us all."

"You can't blame the household for this, Gozu. They just made the same mistake we all did - assume Mitsume was who he said he was." Rikuo-sama frowned at the futon. He kicked the covers back. "Nothing hidden here either..."

This far without results, Tsurara felt she had a chance so she tried again. "Rikuo-sama, may I suggest that you leave investigating to the specialists? Your time can be much more efficiently used in other places."

"What specialists?"

"Well," Tsurara hesitated. "The kind who has intimate knowledge about traps. And tricks. And subterfuge and the like."

Rikuo-sama's lips were twitching. "You mean like a spider and its net and those who know a lot about spies?"

"Yes, like..."

Gozumaru was inspecting the room like a spider its prey, eyes and hands skimming over every inch.

Tsurara felt her face heat. "...like the Gyuki Clan." Who made it a game to pick out the spies trying to get past their mountain and who did have their reputation for a reason.

"I know its easy to forget with how he acts," Rikuo-sama agreed wisely.

Gozumaru threw a tatami mat at them. "Oi. I'm the one doing all the work here, you know. If it doesn't please the Young Master he can stuff it."

"Sorry." Rikuo-sama did not look very sorry. "Just cause you're irreplaceable doesn't mean your ego doesn't need a beating."

"Look who's talking!" Bug Boy lifted another mat but not before Tsurara caught his flushing face. "You're the spoilt prince of the two of us!"

Hehe. No one was safe from Rikuo-sama's charisma. Even though Bug Boy didn't deserve the regard (as easily as Rikuo-sama gave it).

Gozumaru let out a noise of triumph. "I found something. Check this out."

They moved to look over his shoulder. Gozumaru rapped his knuckles against the wooden floor boards. They produced different sound in two places.

"Hoh," said Rikuo-sama, eyes gleaming. Removing the wood revealed a pitch black hole. "Good job, Gozumaru. What do you wanna bet that this leads somewhere outside the compound?"

"Are you stupid?" Gozumaru rolled his eyes before addressing the oni. "This seems to be going east so go find Mezumaru and tell him to search the woods east from here."

"Go." Confirmed Rikuo-sama, and the oni went.

"Rikuo-sama, you don't really wish to follow this yourself, do you?"

"What do you think, Tsurara?"

Tsurara stood with her arms on her hips. "If I cannot stop you then I will at the very least insist that you do not go first," she told him smartly, and slid into the hole.

Rikuo-sama landed not two seconds after her. "Oi, what are you doing? It could've been dangerous."

Tsurara huffed. "Honestly, Rikuo-sama. That is the point. Protecting your vulnerable body is my task."

"I don't want you to protect me." Rikuo-sama sounded truly irritated. "I don't need you to either. Just leave it. I'm not a little kid who needed to hold your hand all the time."

Tsurara sucked in a breath. "Well that's too bad for you." She marched (hurriedly) off. Definitely because her eyes were stinging, because they definitely weren't.

"Good job, moron," she heard Gozumaru's voice drift after her. It sounded like he clapped Rikuo-sama on the shoulder. It was followed by Rikuo-sama's confused, "what? What just happened?"

Tsurara walked (ran) faster.

Until she smacked head first into a wall.

Stupid Tsurara. She was a yokai. She should at least be able to look where's you're walking. She sniffed. No wonder Rikuo-sama didn't need her.

Inspecting her surroundings revealed only a dead end. Why a dead end? This tunnel had to lead somewhere. Had she missed the path splitting somewhere? Oh no! What if she had gotten separated from Rikuo-sama? - Wait. She already was separated from him!

Something wet hit her on the nose.

Tsurara looked up. For an earth tunnel the ceiling was awfully smooth in this one place. When she touched it, it was obvious that it was actually stone. And not just any stone. Bricks.

She pushed against them and an entire set lifted. Natural light reached through the cracks. Tsurara moved the stones to the side and climbed out. What met her eyes was...

….Rikuo-sama would want to see this place.

Tsurara wished she could stop him.

There was no where for her too look that didn't make her feel sick.

When Rikuo-sama arrived, lifting himself out of the hole, he stared. "Are those...?" Gozumaru shoved him aside to climb up as well, but Rikuo-sama's gaze remained fixed as though nailed.

"Human bones." Tsurara whispered.

"Not just them." Gozumaru brushed the tip of his sheathed katana against a white skull. "This was a yokai's. Urgh. I don't think I want to know how they died for their bones to remain."

"Where the hell are we? Why did no one notice this?" Rikuo-sama looked out a window. "...in town?"

Outside was a street, parked cars, modern style houses opposite, even a garden with blooming flowers.

Tsurara unlocked the door and stepped outside. They had climbed through the floor of small, neat, white painted house. It looked no different than any other.

Gozumaru muttered a swear. "We would've never looked in a place like this."

No fear. No yokai aura. Nothing vaguely yokai like. Normal yokai would get goosebumps, frequenting something so thoroughly un-yokai-like. Wouldn't think to hide in them even if there was a manhunt out for them.

Buildings like this were just so...Flat. Uninspired. Un-haunted. Natural. Normal. ...mortal. _Bo_ -ring.

Buildings looking like _this_ just didn't have the aura anymore that made them look like _this_ when yokai were involved.

Rikuo-sama pulled a face. "Let's see what we can find."

Inside were another three rooms downstairs. Everything looked like it had only recently been built. No dust, Tsurara noted, and her guard rose. But they found nothing that didn't belong in normal mortal house.

It was only upstairs that they discovered something. Paintings of servants with yokai traits on the wall emitted their own Fear.

Rikuo-sama stabbed his sword through one. It made a noise, the Fear dispersed and there was an empty frame left.

"Am I the only one who thinks these are flip-a-button house-cleaners?" Gozumaru's eyebrows were raised though his overall dark expression didn't change.

"I think they're here to keep the house in the right state to keep appearance." Tsurara inspected another before freezing it. "Houses that look abandoned are inviting."

Rikuo-sama stopped."...Speaking of appearances...what name do you think this house is registered to?" Rikuo-sama began smirking wide and dark. "Since it's in a place like this, appearing like this, it's all got to be legal. Legal and human stuff leaves paper trails."

Rikuo-sama would know. Trurara remembered Rihan-sama's glee when he announced that if Rikuo wished to lead the Clan in the future he could start dealing with the paperwork involved. She also remembered Rikuo-sama's consequent mood and revenge.

"I think this may turn out to be a treasure grove," he said slowly.

Tsurara smiled at the young master's pleasure.

His gaze suddenly dropped away from hers. "...Sorry about before," he muttered.

...eh?

Rikuo-sama apolo...gi..s..ed…? Words didn't form in her haste to reply and before she could gather herself. Gozumaru's voice interrupted.

"You may want to rethink that treasure thing." Gozumaru's stood in the doorway of a room, his back to the hallway. Tsurara couldn't see his voice, but his voice was tight in a way he would tear something to shreds if it were allowed, his body tense. "Rikuo-sama. You must see this."

Rikuo-sama moved to shoulder past Gozumaru, but for once the Bug Boy did his duty and held him back. Tsurara felt her stomach drop.

Curtains drawn closed with the sun sinking outside the room was grey in half shadows, but to see they didn't even need that much.

Walls were plastered with articles, some as old as a couple of centuries. Photos, people circled in the background of photos, names connected with lines, events connected to those. Small notes stuck at certain points.

All images and mentions of Rihan-sama – slashed again and again until they almost became unrecognizable. Slashes of fury in the wall, through the paper.

Rikuo-sama's breath stuttered and froze.

The step he took seemed as unconscious as the hand he lifted.

Tsurara's heart must have dropped somewhere back into the tunnel, but she followed his line of sight. To a woman. The painting of one. And the photo of an identical girl.

"O...nee-san…?" Rikuo-sama's voice breathed, and Tsurara's head snapped around to him so fast she felt her bones creak.

The expression on Rikuo-sama's face was somewhere between confused and hurt. He was transfixed on the image.

The image had a line drawn from it to Rihan-sama's. A line identical to the one connecting a photo of Rikuo-sama himself to Rihan-sama.

"Wait. What?" Gozumaru's voice was low and angry. "Unless someone really seriously forgot to mention something in the last decade or so, you never had a sister."

Rikuo-sama didn't appear to hear him. His breath was harsh and his eyes didn't seem to focus.

"Rikuo-sama." Tsurara took his hand. "Are you alright? Do you recognize those women?"

Rikuo-sama's breath only became harsher.

"Oi. Rikuo." Gozumaru tried not to show it but he was becoming uneasy. "Oi." He waved around in Rikuo-sama's face.

Rikuo-sama bolted. Clumsily.

Tsurara was like frozen. She heard the steps of her master stumbling down the stairs. Heard the front door open. It took three heart beats for her to snap out of shock and hurry after him.

"Rikuo-sama!" Tsurara had never felt as helpless as she was when she discovered Rikuo-sama outside on the ground. Head burrowed between his knees, held up only by the wall he was leaning against. "Rikuo-sama." She knelt by his side. Hands fluttering uselessly, she ended up brushing hair out of his face.

Cold sweat met her touch. What she saw of Rikuo-sama's face was pale. His hands griped his head in a white knuckled grip. His pupils were dilated.

Rikuo-sama. Reaching her arms around his shoulders, she pulled him against her. Like when he was a child, she stroked his hair. "Everything will be alright."

A shadow fell over them. She looked up. Gozumaru's face was tight and white.

"Exploration over," she said.

He nodded.

* * *

"You're a moron, you know."

Rikuo groaned and rolled over. He said something that was muffled by his cover.

"What?" Zen cleared his ears. "Can you repeat that? I can't hear you over the sound of the Nura Clan's future collapsing."

"I said I've heard that enough times in the last few days." Rikuo rolled over again and glared at Zen. "And don't exaggerate. It's just a cold."

Zen couldn't help but snort. "You left not only the Main House, but the entire region." Zen ticked off his fingers. "It's a cold you caught while going into unsecured, hostile territory with minimal guards, recklessly endangering your own life - thus the future of the clan – and the lives of your subordinates. It could have been any kind of incurable virus that laid you out. All the while the Shodaima and Nidaime are absent. While you have highest command; meaning nothing can move until you say so. Which, might I remind you, you can do without voice but can't do without consciousness."

Zen let him sit on that a bit. Moron. In the meantime, he studied the conscious version of his sworn brother. Face still red, but expression set in one of irritation, blanket pulled up to the nose he _seemed_ well enough.

Zen crossed his arms. "You know, I _could_ give you doctor's permission to get up-" Rikuo's face turned hopeful. "- but sure as hell won't until you fess up. What the hell is wrong?"

Hope vanished as though it had never been there - how Nurarihyon-like. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah. Right. And I'm the prime example of physical health." Zen's glower had to be very impressive because Rikuo actually shrunk a bit. "That 'cold' you have is a symptom of severe mental shock. Wanna try that 'everything is fine' again?"

Rikuo, the little brat, glowered like he thought he could set Zen on fire. The yokai around here _had_ to grow a backbone. How could they take care of their (future) Head(s) when they were too busy falling over themselves to obey his (their) every command? "I don't wanna talk about it."

"That so?"

Brown eyes narrowed in suspicion - Rikuo knew him too well to take Zen's easy surrender for real.

"I guess I'll have to excuse you from your duties until...well, your age gets another digit. That should be long enough." He rose from his position at Rikuo's futon. "As your doctor, you know."

Rikuo lasted impressively until Zen was about to slide the shoji door closed behind him. "Wait." It must really be serious.

Zen waited.

Rikuo glowered a bit more.

Zen still waited.

"I'll talk."

Well. That concession sounded more painful than walking over embers. But Zen still wasn't about to let Rikuo get out of using actual words.

He slid the doors closed behind him and returned to his original position. "I'm listening."

Rikuo looked away from him and stared unmoving at the ceiling. His eyes were hard but there were too many emotions to count behind that. Condensed, chaotic.

Yeah, if Zen hadn't thought it was serious before, he would have certainly noticed now. Hesitation, stubborn silence, brooding – those things Zen had never actually heard of any Nurarihyon doing in all of their centuries of history for any amount of time.

As a kind they were wild, willful, mischievous, greedy, impulsive, paced and did _what_ they wanted _how_ they wanted _when_ they wanted and mercy on the fool standing in their way. Accumulating of emotions, biting down on them – that didn't happen.

Either something was _that_ wrong or action proportionate to emotion was going to follow soon.

"I remembered something about that night," admitted Rikuo finally, and Zen knew his sickbeds were going to be filled with injured in the very near future.

* * *

TBC


	9. flower girls, fear, guests and omens

Act III

* * *

flower girls, fear, guests and omens

* * *

"The Demon Capital! Rejoice for we have arrived in Kyoto!"

"We're tired." Maki and Toori moaned, seemingly to folding under the weight of their small bags. "No more."

"I've never been on so many trains in a row before in my life." Shima contributed, appearing only slightly better of than the two girls.

"Yes, we sure have had some bad luck." Kiyotsugu-kun admitted. "But! Like any true yokai lover we did not falter! Be proud!"

"I can't believe we made it." Oikawa-san looked very annoyed. "You'd think disabling five trains would be enough..."

"What was that, Oikawa-kun?"

The yukionna laughed nervously. "Nothing, Kiyotsugu-kun. So when are we going back?"

Kiyotusgu looked at the gathered club around him. "I didn't buy tickets back," he said.

"WHAT?!"

"We must discover yokai by the hundreds first! It could take weeks! How could I be bothered by thinking about leaving?"

Kana and the others stared at him, gob-smacked.

"We didn't sign up for this!" Maki protested. "I only packed for a day at most! Which, might I remind you, I already used cause we needed _three days_ to even make it here!"

"So?" Kiyotsugu didn't seem to see the problem. "Simply buy something new!"

"Unlike you, we aren't loaded!"

"Perhaps we can go and visits Yura?" All eyes turned to Kana. She shuffled her feet. "I'm sure we can borrow some clothes or so from her."

Kiyotsugu slapped his hands together. "Perfect, Ienaga-kun. We can invite our very own Kiyojuji Patrol Onmyoji to show us every single yokai spot in the city!"

"You mean _she_ invites _us_." Corrected Maki. "But whatever. Let's go. My feet are killing me."

"Oikawa-san, do you want me to carry your bag?" Kana felt a bit sorry for the hopeful look on Shima's face, which fell the moment Oikawa turned him down.

"Thanks for offering. Take ours." Maki and Toori shoved theirs at the poor boy, who protested, "I only carry Oikawa-san's!"

Kana matched her pace to Oikawa-san's. "Are you okay? You look, er, paler than usual." She kept her voice low.

The yuikonna shot her a look that could have frozen lava, but she always did that. Usually Kana would shoot one back, that was just how they worked with Rikuo in-between, but.

Well, it said a lot that Oikawa-san's glare didn't hold long and that she allowed herself to sigh. She rubber her arms as though she was freezing. "There is so much Fear in the air. It's oppressing. I don't like the onmyoji girl, but you should always stay with her in this place. It's not safe."

Kana shuddered. "If only Rikuo-kun were here…"

"Rihan-sama is here," Oikawa said. "But we can't bother him."

Kana stared. Her stomach was suddenly somewhere in the vicinity of her feet. "What? Why? Why is Nura-san here? What's going on?" In Kana's understanding the local (yokai) yakuza boss couldn't just _leave_ his region - and not just because of all the chaos the clan would fall into without him.

Oikawa-san bit her lip and glanced over her shoulder to the others who were still squabbling. "The Nura Clan is fighting an enemy clan here."

..." _What?"_

The others looked over. "What's wrong, Kana-chan?" Maki wondered.

"Wha- ah, er. Nothing! It's nothing. I just realized I...forgot to pack something. Yes, that's right. Just forgot something." She smiled. It had to look better than it felt because the others returned to their own conversations (Kiyotsugu lecturing without any listeners, Shima staring dreamily at Oikawa, Maki and Toori chatting).

"Keep your voice down." Oikawa-san hissed once she had, now that Kana looked, double checked for eavesdroppers. "It's not just human attention we'll get if we're too loud and unlike in Ukiyoe, they aren't friendly."

"Is that why Rikuo-kun isn't here?" Kana found herself wondering. "Because you're …. fighting?"

"At. We're at war." Oikawa-san clarified with her usual lack of patience for Kana's lack of yokai knowledge. "Rikuo-sama has other responsibilities. Rihan-sama did not require the Young Master's presence."

"Oh." Kana had difficulty picturing Nura-san doing anything as serious as going to _war_. But she supposed he was head of yokai yakuza for a reason. That that was the reason Rikuo-kun wasn't here with them made her anxious yet it was also...relieving. So that he wouldn't go to...war...

Wait.

" _War?!_ You're at war?" Kana remembered to keep her voice down this time. "In Kyoto? _Here_? What are we doing here? It can't be safe!"

Oikawa-san shot her an exasperated glare. " _I'm_ here because Rikou-sama is worried something might happen to his friends in his absence. What _you_ are doing here when Rikuo-sama _told_ you it was dangerous I can't say."

Kana felt her mouth drop open. "Rikuo-kun didn't say a word about _the entire Clan_ going to _war_. In Kyoto."

Oikawa-san pursed her lips. "You don't need to know such things, Ienaga-san. But you should have known that when Rikuo-sama said 'not to go' not to go."

A retort was on the tip of Kana's tongue but it never left her lips as a sudden disquiet bloomed in her mind. Why _had_ she come when Rikuo-kun said not to?

Oikawa-san stopped.

Her head was turned to the side, her eyes intense and wide in a distinctly inhuman way.

Following her line of sight lead Kana to nothing but a statue. Her gut quenched.

Oikawa-san's head turned slowly the sculpture's counterpart.

"Ienaga-san, listen to me very carefully," said the snow woman. She tried to hide it but Kana could still feel her tension. The air chilled. "Go inside the temple. Mingle with other humans. You must keep the others together and not let them out of your sight. Yokai are less likely to strike if they are seen. I will come after."

And Kana realized what mistake she had made.

She had become conceited.

Even knowing the sort of children eating, birthday ruining demons that were out there, she still felt safe walking home in the dark. Why? Because yokai lurking around corners were her best friend's subordinates. If something happened, he would protect her like he always had before.

Standing at Rikuo-kun's side, Kana had forgotten what yokai truly were like.

So she had come here.

But here in Kyoto, every yokai around every corner was one who would harm her.

"Where is Oikawa-san going?" Shima-kun sounded longing and disappointed, and Kana snapped out of her horrified realization.

She pictured Rikuo-kun, and did her best to smile. "Just going to look for a wash room. She, er, said we should...go ahead."

"She could have said something." Maki-san said. "We could have gone together."

... _Not_ possible. "But. Ah. She has to go look for one first! Yes." Her palms felt sweaty. Kana took a couple steps towards the stairs to the temple. "So lets go later. So we don't have to waste the time."

"Very well! Oikawa-kun's thoughtful suggestion will be taken full advantage off." Kiyotsugu proclaimed, and marched ahead. "Let us find yokai on the holy grounds of the temple!"

"Does he realize how contradictory that is?" Maki deadpanned before she smirked evilly and threw an arm around Kana's shoulders. "So. Did you and Tsurara-chan fight again? Let me guess, it was about Nura-kun."

Warmth in her cheeks chased away the coldness of fear. "N – no! Why would you think that?"

Toori giggled to Kana's other side, looping her arms around one of Kana's. "Maybe because you're always feuding with each other when he isn't looking?"

They double teamed her. Kana wanted to run and hide in a hole. "I-It's nothing like that. Anyway!" She slipped between them. "Let's go. Kiyotsugu-kun might spend the money for our trip back on some yokai stuff if we leave him out of our sight!"

"Ah." Said Maki. "That guy would. Oi, Kiyotsugu don't you dare -"

Kana dared glance over her shoulder. There was no sight of Oikawa-san.

* * *

"It's not good, Rihan-sama. We're too late again."

"Hmm."

"What shall we do? At this rate they're going to beat us to all those seals those yokai we beat mentioned." Kurotabo observed.

"That's a problem."

" _That's what I've been saying for a week now."_ Kubinashi got out with obvious strain. "The question is what we're going to _do_ about it."

Rihan looked over the destruction. A couple traces of perished yokai here, a couple there. Mostly there were human bodies. Sometimes only splotches of blood where the body was suspiciously absent.

"Well. Something has to be done about this."

" _That's what I've been saying,_ _Rihan_ _!"_

"Don't get flustered, Kubinashi." Personally, Rihan was both disappointed and relieved to have missed the Hagoromo Kitsune again. He knew what face he would have to fight after all and it was not going to be easy. On the other hand – who could say no to a good battled? "Clean out of here before the Keikain arrive. Dealing with them is bothersome."

Kubinashi gave him a look of profound suspicion. "And where do _you_ plan on going?"

Heh.

Kurotabo pinched the bridge of his nose in a wonderfully human gesture. "At least take some guards with you, Rihan-sama."

"Hmm. No."

"Rihan!" Kubinashi fingered his strings. "I'll tie you up, don't think I won't! There's an enemy out there even you have to take seriously."

"I'm taking her plenty serious." Too much, in fact. It screwed with Rihan's centre. He vanished.

" _Rihan!_ "

Leaving his hyakkiyakko to the many capable generals, Rihan strolled unseen through their ranks and out of the latest temple that had been raided by Hagoromo Kitsune's parade.

The Old Man had said there was a seal in place here, keeping her down. It had a number of anchor points but even he had never bothered with knowing more about it.

So all Rihan knew that those things existed, the vague number of them, educated guesses to their location but no idea what sequence there was to them – if there was one.

Sooner or later they would clash with the fox, but there was something he had to take care of first or else this was going to turn into a disaster ten times bigger than anything Rikuo and Rihan's childhoods had produced together.

And, ah, here came the onmyoji. Assuming they didn't always run around like headless chickens, their main house had to be in pretty bad state right now.

Hmm.

The moon stood high in the sky and Rihan enjoyed bathing in it as he waited for his time. No need for haste.

Leaves rustled, a sweet smell clung to the breeze.

... it was the time of the year again for those flowers to bloom. Yamabuki. Rihan's eyes found them without permission. Their petals glowed gold.

His feet had carried him to them before he became aware of it. It seemed he wasn't the only one admiring their beauty.

A shadow moved, a pale hand brushed over stems and blossom. Long pitch black hair.

Rihan stilled.

The thought to draw his sword came far too late, and even then his hands didn't move.

"Who is it? I can tell you are here even if I cannot perceive you." The voice was no longer a young girl's high chime but had matured into that of a woman on the cusp of adulthood. "Leave now. While I am feeling charitable."

So alike. Mirror images of each other.

If he had even entertained the notion of a coincidence eight years ago, this illusion would have broken painfully now.

But he had known, somewhere deep inside even then. Someone's design was displayed before him.

When he found out who's…

"Do you not believe me?" Strands of black hair danced aside as the figure turned around, revealing black eyes of the deepest black.

Rihan couldn't move had he wanted to, held in place by that _smile_...

"I could kill you. It would not pain me."

Maybe.

But not while she was smiling softly like that, holding a branch between her fingers like the most fragile of constructs.

"No?" Her head tilted back and, ah, _that_ was a more likely a Hagoromo Kitsune smile. "You who hides his form from me. You seem to have some skills and bravery. I should offer you to join my Hyakkiyakko. ...Yet for some reason I already know you would decline me. I should kill you. It must be this night's fault that I don't feel like it."

Wind blew, carrying petals with it.

"Was it perhaps the flowers that lured you out here, just as they did me?" The demon wearing the face of his late beloved wondered softly. "You could not be blamed for it were it so, yet I cannot tell as you continue to hide." …. _That_ smile was neither Harogomo Kitsune's nor _hers_. "Are you perhaps a coward?"

The way she said it, it was almost like -

Rihan's silence displeased her.

 _That_ expression disappeared.

Coldness crept into delicate features. "I shall not say it again. Leave."

Rihan's hand twitched. His feet moved, but in the entirely wrong direction and as he stood in front of the girl, his fingers reached out to take the yamabuki branch from her fingers.

"… flowers suit you much better than blood," he whispered quietly, and tied the branch into her hair.

The girl's calm breath froze at the sound of his voice. Rihan left before she could remember where she had heard it before.

It was only when he was half through the city that it occurred to him he just had the perfect moment to end this mess.

...This was going to be difficult.

Damn.

* * *

Yura shoved the door open. "Ojii-san, I-"

…

She closed the door.

She rubbed her eyes.

She shoved the door to the side. "Ojii-san, I-"

No.

"Yo. Yura-chan, was it?" A single eye gleamed at her from a smirking face. "How have you been?"

No. _No_. No! No _nononono!_

No. Way. No. Damn. Way.

 _Not. Happening._

"Yura. Do you know this yokai?" Her grandfather sat, a cup of tea at the low traditional table. His calm was impeccable.

"Noooooooooo! Wh- why would I kn-ow a yokai? D-don't be silly grandpa!" She got out, choking on the words and their absurdity.

"She's friends with my son," Nura-san informed her grandfather casually.

Her grandpa gave her a very assessing look. "Is that so?"

"No! I mean yes! No!" She faced grandpa fully, face flushed in shame. "I didn't know Nura-kun was a yokai, grandpa." It came out like a whine.

A furrow formed between her grandfather's brows. "You couldn't tell." Not a question.

"Don't be too hard on her, it's hardly her fault." Nura-san smiled disarmingly charismatic. Urgh. "She's still young and my son had the advantage of being underestimated."

Granpa's Frown of Disapproval formed fully. "Nonetheless, as an onmyoji she must be able to do it." He said it to Nura-san. "I have no doubt she has the skill. She merely let herself be tricked."

"She came over to our house a couple of times," volunteered Nura-san, digging Yura's grave deeper - just to see what she would do if he was anything like his son. "Rikuo invited them for a yokai search -"

"Aaaaaaaaaargh! Shut up you!"

He didn't. "I admit I was surprised when he brought her over the first time. We don't get onmyoji surprise visits every day after all." Nura-san gave her a glance, eyes smirking, but his tone was all polite chit chat. "It turned out to be great fun."

A noise somewhere between a splutter and a shriek tore from her mouth as she rang with her indignation. "Only because _you_ used me to keep your subordinates on their toes!"

"Just a little bit of hide and seek. What's life without a thrill?" Put Nura-san forth innocently and bit into a cookie. But his eyes gave him away!

" _Thrill?!_ I'll show you thrill, yokai! Just entering the Keikain House, pretending like-"

…

Wait a minute.

Something was seriously wrong with this picture.

"Is that tea? ...are those Kazuki-nii's sweets?" Yura stared. Nura-san finished the treat, smiling. "...this is the Main House of the Keikain Onmyoji. _How_ did you get in here?"

A very bad feeling kicked her in the head with a deja vu.

She looked at her grandfather. "Did he slip past the wards?"

Grandpa pursed his lips. Which obviously was an admission all by itself.

Yura gaped at Nura-san. "Are you mad? You'll be killed."

Nura-san's face split wide. "I think I see why Rikuo is so fond of you."

"...My grandchild doesn't think you a threat." Yura's grandfather set his cup of tea down with a pronounced click. All levity disappeared. "A serious misjudgement on her part. The House of Keikain does not deal with yokai," he said. "Not even in situations like this."

Nura-san paused, then leaned back on his hands. Suddenly he was nothing like the man she met on her visits to the house who had easily welcomed them and treated them so well. His one open eye was at half mast, glowing. Not threatening, a bit disinterested even, but there was _no doubt_ that it could become the former at a moment's notice.

 _This_ was the current _Supreme Commander of all yokai_. No longer the relaxed father of the boy she met in school and went on excursions with, but the sire of the young and powerful yokai lord who fought a battle on the streets of his home town and came out with nary a scratch.

Yura couldn't swallow.

"However," her grandfather continued unperturbed. "We can't help rumors flying, and if the current holder of Nenekirimaru happens to be a yokai, then we will certainly not interfere in any battles between forces of evil."

Nura-san's head tilted, drifting hair hiding most of his expression in the shadows. "I'm here to cut ties with the fox. Everything else is your concern as I've got no interest in conquering Kyoto. Fight your war yourself."

The air was painful to breath. Yura's heart galloped.

"Grandpa? What is he talking about?"

Nura-san's eye slid to her. "Your grandfather is less understanding than you, Yura-chan. Says he can't accept an armistice no matter that your family will keep on dying because you lack the power to fight the fox head on."

Hidemoto the 27th straightened. "Leave Yura out of this, evil spirit."

"Why?" The yokai drilled mercilessly. "She is the next head, is she not? Doesn't she have a say?"

Yura stared at her grandfather. "Nura-san offered a truce?"

"We don't deal with yokai, Yura." His usually warm eyes bore down on her. "And it is not a decision of prejudice. I can see very well that this yokai is not like those we usually hunt. Merely it is that if we compromise on this, we lose the right to call ourselves onmyoji. You know this."

"I do. I do! But, grandpa. People are dying. My brothers, our family. We can't even protect anyone on the streets anymore," she argued. Her gut twisted with the weight of the growing missing persons list, with the guilt of _what she was arguing_. The purse with her shikigami weighted a ton. "If we fail like this, because we refuse to cooperate with someone, how can we still be onmyoji? How can we still look each other in the face if we're just throwing away out lives – lives that don't have to be lost!" Her voice shook. "...I don't want to die because of something like this."

Frown of Disapproval. Of Disapproval and Disappointment.

Yura couldn't stand to spend another second in the same room. She fled.

Down the hallway she smacked almost head first into Ienaga-san. Ienaga-san and the rest, all of whom looked at her curiously. Quickly Yura rubbed her sleeves over her eyes. "What are you doing here? I told you to wait in the room. It can be dangerous even in here. Come on." She took the lead down the hallway.

"Sorry, Yura-chan," Ienaga-san voiced hesitantly. "But you were taking so long and we thought -"

"Kiyotsugu wanted to search for yokai." Maki-san said flatly.

"Even though it's impossible for any to be here. This is the main house of the Keikain after all," Toori-san added.

Yura hoped her flinch wasn't obvious.

"Hoh? Searching for yokai? Interesting. How is it going?"

This time her flinch definitely was visible, but the others were jumping in surprise too, so Yura was spared.

"Nura-san," Ienaga-san choked.

"Nura-kun's handsome father," Maki-san said, staring. "What are you doing here?"

"Me?" He smiled as though it was an everyday thing to meet in the house of strangers. "Nothing much. I had a business talk with Yura-chan's grandfather, but nothing became of it unfortunately."

Ienaga-san _gaped._

"Business in the house of Keikain? Don't tell me Nura's father is also in the business of hunting yokai." Kiyotsugu-kun wanted to know, so, _so_ painfully oblivious of who he was talking to.

Nura-san's smirk was _one hundred percent_ his son's when he was having fun at your expense. "Not quite, no."

Yura grit her teeth. "I'm sorry, Nura-san. But the situation being what it is, if you could get on your way..."

He waved a hand at her, smiling warmly. "Just wanted to say hi to my son's cute human friends. If only all of his companions were like you I would have a lot less headaches," he told them, before moving past and strolled down the hallway. "Come by our house again. Everyone is looking forward to it. Yura-chan too."

"Wait!" Ienaga-san called, her voice close to panic. He did. "Nura-san." She wrung her hands and still had that horrible face colour she had when Yura had picked them up at the temple. "Oikawa-san came with us – ah, to keep us out of trouble – and we lost her at the Fishime Inari Shrine." Her voice cracked on the last part.

Nura-san stood still in the hallway for a few seconds before he turned just enough to toss a smile over his shoulder. "It's not your fault, Kana-chan. Don't all of you worry. I'll have my people search for her."

Practically collapsing in relief, Ienaga-san hid her face in her hands. "Thank you! I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, thanks Nura-kun's father," agreed Maki-san. "We didn't know how we were supposed to look for her since we can't leave the building."

Nura-san made a dismissive gesture with his hand but was already moving again.

Yura bet the moment he was around the corner she wouldn't find him again if she searched the entire compound.

* * *

"You have no doubt this is the next place, Yukionna?"

Tsurara huffed. "The yokai were very talkative once they lost their legs. It's a spiral form using the main streets as conductors. Seiei-ji is the next one in the row."

"It seems that way." Rihan-sama agreed. "It was all the onmyoji were talking about – about who's going to be killed next, that is."

Kubinashi twitched. When he had heard where Rihan-sama had been, Tsurara had become very worried he might lose his head in the way he hadn't already.

Hitotsume-sama clicked his tongue, chewing the stem of his pipe. "It's not that I doubt Yukionna's ability to terrify, Rihan-sama. However we must consider the possibility that they don't follow the rules set by their enemies."

"If that happens, it happens. No need to rush, people." Rihan-sama gazed vaguely in the direction of the temple.

"Shouldn't we at the very least await them closer?" Kurotabo pushed his hat up for better sight. "I do not like to consider the time we need to get there."

"That would be ideal," Rihan-sama agreed, sipping from a cup of sake. "But think about it. If we went to the front gates of that place and waited, what would happen?"

"We wouldn't get anything to drink," Aotabo lamented. The entire hyakki yakko filled a modern styled vineyard. Humans were running between then tables not knowing they were serving yokai. The broad windows gave excellent sight of the Seiei-ji.

Tsurara kicked him in the shin. "The onmyoji would detect us," she proposed.

Rihan-sama nodded. "Yeah. They're too scared out of their minds to do anything on their own, but follow that line of thought a bit further."

"Battle on two fronts. I see the problem, Rihan-sama." Gyuki-sama said. He was the only one of all the present demons eating instead of drinking. "We'd be caught between the defending onmyoji and the attacking Hagoromo Kitsune. In contrast if it is we who arrive last, it is them who are caught between two fronts."

"Hmm. We'll have Hagoromo Kitsune be a buffer between us and the onmyoji while we destroy her. I have no intention of letting unnecessary sacrifices be made for the humans or us, but since the Keikain turned me down, I'm more concerned with our guys being shot by mistake then them dying in the time we need to arrive."

"A logical decision." Gykui-sama complimented.

Hitotsume-same harrumphed. "And that after all the trouble Rihan-sama went to to offer them a mercy. Really, humans..."

"Speaking of humans," Rihan-sama's lazy stare turned to Tsurara. "Didn't you come here to take care of Rikuo's humans?"

She dipped her head reverently. "Yes, Rihan-sama. However as they're currently in the Keikain's Main House…."She shivered. "I asked to be contacted the moment they leave."

"That's wise." Rihan-sama smirked. "The Keikain didn't seem too welcoming to yokai."

Kubinashi muttered something under his breath.

"Anyway, Yukionna. The Old Man is on the Takarabune on the river and out communication lines with the Main House run from there. Feel free to join him there." Offered Rihan-sama.

Tsurara considered. On the one hand, if she went she would be able to contact Rikuo-sama and though she dearly wished to know how he was, she had on the other hand nothing to report to him. Rikuo-sama's time was too precious to waste on such things as her mere desire to hear his voice. "I believe I will stay, Rihan-sama."

He shrugged, and drank more sake.

It was loud, rowdy as in any place the Clan frequented, but there was an underlying tension. It was different from the times Rikuo-sama had taken them out. With Rikuo-sama it was abrupt, even his battle with the Skikoku yokai. This entire phase of waiting, for the assembled and battle ready hyakkiyako did not happen.

This was what a war that Rihan-sama had to take the lead on was like.

It excited her blood.

"Rihan-sama." Kurotabo turned from his statue like vigil at the window. "It is time."

Faint light flashed at the temple grounds.

Rihan-sama stood languidly. The entire hyakkiyako silenced. "Would you look at that. It seems that it is." Smirking, Rihan-sama tugged his sword out of his robes. "You guys! It's time to go!"

The building shook from the answering cheers.

When the parade arrived down at the temple, the battle was over. But the hyakkiyako of Harogomo Kitsune was still present.

Tsurara's eyes searched for the demon among the ranks of powerful, old yokai but did not discover a figure looking the way Tsurara imagined her to look like. Neither did she sense the kind of Fear she would expect.

Did she leave, Tsurara wondered.

Except, Kejoro at her side, Kubinashi and Kurotabo, Aotabo – even Gyuki-sama and Hitostume-sama. They were all still, shockingly so. All of the Nura Clan's parade was silent, filled with a different kind of tension - the nervous, confused kind.

Rihan-sama alone was as usual.

Tsurara followed their lines of sight and -

\- sucked in a shocked breath. Surrounded by yokai, dressed in black, splattered with blood, black, black, black...That person was -!

"Is that..."Kejoro breathed near inaudible.

"Rihan," Kubinashi said, just as quietly, insistent. "She looks just like…."

...Huh?

They recognized her? Why did _they_ recognize her?

Tsurara only did because she looked so much like the girl in that picture...

"You seem familiar," the girl said, licking blood from her fingertips. The yokai gathered and arranged defensively around her. "Have we met before?"

Rihan-sama smirked lazily. "You almost killed me eight years ago."

Tsurara froze.

The Fear of the Nura Clan reared back and evolved into a black storm of utter rage. _This_ **one.** This person had _dared_ -

She forgot entirely about the other matter.

Hagoromo Kitsune narrowed her eyes, inspecting Rihan-sama. She froze too. Her delicate hand pressed into her temples. "I recognize you now," she said, and her voice was guttural evil. "That coarse one's son. Why have you come to interfere with me again?"

"Why do you look like that?" Rihan-sama questioned in return, no longer easy-going.

The fox's head tilted. "What nonsense are you sprouting? What do I care what appearance my perfect vessel has?"

The sliding sound as Rihan-sama drew his sword echoed in the space between the two night parades.

"If you don't feel like answering, I don't either," he said, steel in his voice.

The fox girl's expression twisted from smooth dignity to hate. "It seems I didn't do quite a throughout job, teaching you a lesson. This sloppiness must be corrected."

At Tsurara's side, Kejoro _growled_.

The battle exploded. Rihan-sama's blade met opposition of an old man-like yokai. "Kurotabo." Rihan-sama said, and Tsurara was in awe as for the first time she saw the Nidaime as he was in battle.

"My Lord."

Rihan-sama's Fear sparked like the most entrancing fireworks. "Become my strength."

Tsurara was _in awe._

* * *

"Rikuo, do you want a snack?"

Her son looked up from his hard work. He chewed the end of his pen and watched her for a long moment. "Yes please."

Wakana hummed a cheerful tune and set both tea and crackers next to the documents he was so diligently studying. "You're working so hard, is something going on?"

Rikuo's eyes flared, which was a yes and a lot more beside, but Wakana didn't need to know all the complicated stuff to see that her son was troubled. Troubled, and not wanting to burden her with it.

So like his father.

She smiled happily at him. "My little Rikuo is growing up so reliably." There was no doubt in her mind that whatever he set his mind to would be solved. "Maybe I should go brag to the neighbours."

"We don't have neighbours," he said, but smiled. Somewhere in the house something crashed, followed by curses in the voices of the rowdy friends' of Rikuo's that he invited over for whatever it is that he was dealing with.

Wakana waited and watched him.

Sipping his tea, he sighed. "Mom, when you married Dad. What made you decide to leave the human world? I mean, he's a yokai. There's so many differences that some don't believe common ground even exists." He lowered his cup, gaze troubled. "No, never mind. I don't want to know."

"Does this have something to do with what it worrying you?"

He blinked at her.

She smiled. "You don't need to tell me."

Her son lowered his eyes and drank more tea. After a long silence he said, "I just want to know why humans do some things. But I want to find my own answers." He grinned charmingly at her. "And you're too special to use as a comparison."

Wakana giggled. "You're making me blush."

"Which only makes you more special – especially beautiful, I mean," her son complimented dutifully, and Wakana laughed.

With the sleeve of her kimono she dabbed at her eyes. "Rikuo, your mother is very much looking forward to the girl you bring home one day. Practicing your charm on me, you little rascal."

He ducked his head and only blushed a bit.

The tea cup in his hands cracked.

"Yikes." Quickly, he moved it away from his work so that the leaking tea wouldn't soak them.

"Oh my. This hasn't happened in a while." Wakana used her handkerchief to clean some of the liquid.

Once he had set the broken cup down on the tray Rikuo looked at his hands oddly. "I didn't think I was gripping it that hard."

"You must be hitting a growth spurt." She leaned across the small table and pinched his cheek. "My Darling should watch out. By the time he returns you'll be the taller one."

Rikuo grinned.

"Rikuo-sama!" One of the karasu tengu landed in the yard, just outside Rikuo's room. "I have brought an urgent message from the Shodaime!"

Wakana's little son's face smoothed over. "What is it?"

Tusakamaru-chan darted a very quick look at Wakana. And hesitated.

She felt her smile fall, her stomach turning to ice.

* * *

Hagoromo Kitsune looked in the mirror of her quarters. Nothing special. Nothing extraordinary. Just a human like any other. A human clothed in red liquid of life.

(Flowers suit you better than blood.)

It had been him! His voice! It was the same at that presence that night! With the flower-

Her brows twitched as a painful pulse reappeared in her temples.

A flash. Of something.

She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the cold surface of the mirror. That man. That yokai. That cursed one. The cursed blood. Why couldn't she stop thinking about him?

 _Why_ did that despicable yokai interfere again?

The glass cracked under her skin.

Before she realized, she was on the floor. It hurt. It hurt. _It hurt!_

Like her head was splitting.

Something flashed. A memory.

A memory -

Of.

Of…

It hurt so much! What was happening?

What did that yokai do to her?

She screamed. Screamed. Screamed. Screamed _screamedscreamed_ -

He did this to her!

Why couldn't she hate him!

She was covered in his blood!

Noooooo-!

Vaguely, something happened around her. Who were those people? "Hagoromo Kitsune-sama!"

-ah, her faithful servants.

But she was in such agony!

Not that person! Anything but that person! Rih-Fath-

It hurt so much! She couldn't bear it any longer! What was happening?!

\- Something cool touched her mind. Everything became dark.

* * *

TBC


	10. of dreams granted and new friends

Act III

* * *

of dreams granted and new friends

* * *

"Oi, oi, why is Rikuo here?"

Heads snapped around.

"Rihan!"

"Rihan-sama!"

"Hey. Settle down you two. My ears'll fall of – ouch." Rihan's hand slipped to his chest and touched on the thick layer of bandaged as he tried to sit up.

"Don't move." Kubinashi ordered, voice tight, and carefully prevented Rihan from further attempts at moving. "The wound only just closed."

Kejoro dropped to her knees at his futon's side. "Please forgive me, Rihan-sama. I couldn't protect you." Kejoro herself did not look much better than Rihan, though her chest wound had been a lot less dangerous.

"I'm the one who should apologize. I screwed up. Sorry, Kejoro. You got hurt because of me." Rihan tugged at a strand of her hair. "Look, it cost you so much." It was cut off, burned, tied into knots and otherwise in a state she would never let it reach naturally.

"Never, Rihan-sama. To see you safe I would have given gladly my life," she bowed as deep as she could. Next to her, Kubinashi had somewhere in between Rihan passing out and waking up found that horrible look on his face again. Who had he terrorized while Rihan was out, he wondered.

"And I'll gladly see you not do that," returned Rihan, but even he knew a hopeless argument after he had had it for a couple hundred times or so. "But does one of you want to explain to me why you haven't broken up that hellish combination over there?"

He thumped at the far end of the room, where the horrifying sight of Rikuo and his Old Man putting their heads together had been greeting him since he managed to open his eyes. "What is Rikuo even doing here? Did something happen?"

Kubinashi's expression became pinched. Kejoro eased out of her deep bow enough for Rihan to see that she was studiously studying the floor.

"Leave us," said the Old Man to them. Once they did he added to Rihan, "I called him."

Urgh. That tone.

"What did you do that for?" Rihan demanded. He tried to sit up because this was not a conversation where he could afford the disadvantage of a lower ground. But his body didn't obey.

While he was trying to convince the black spots to leave his vision, sandals and bodies shuffled. When Rihan could properly see again, Rikuo was sitting next to him.

Damn that Old Man.

Rikuo's expression was simultaneously as cold as ice, as black as a storm and as pissed as Rihan had never seen him before.

Ouch.

"What did you tell him?" Rihan demanded of his meddling father.

The first Nurarihyon had an unlit pipe between his lips, his expression compassionless. "I called him because you're half-assed. Get your head back on straight, fool. Or you'll die."

"Is there something I can't know?" Rikuo questioned and, wow, angry. His following prompt was merciless. "Something about a girl in black?"

Rihan groaned. "By the sound of it you already know."

"Depends entirely on what you mean by that," Rikuo commented shrewdly, coldly. "You mean that Hagoromo Kitsune looks like the woman you married before Mom? Or that she was the girl who almost killed you? Or maybe you mean the fact that I distinctly remember her calling you 'Father' that day?" He crossed his arms and stared icily down at Rihan. "That wouldn't have anything to do with why you can't cut her, now would it?"

"Hey now," Rihan gave Rikuo a _look_. "Even if you don't respect your father, give some to your yokai commander. Do you honestly think I would allow myself to be stopped by that?"

Rikuo's eyes were glowing ominously in the dark. Emotion coiled around him, but, Rihan suddenly became aware of, while he was _seriously pissed of_ , that wasn't all and it wasn't all at Rihan.

"Despite what you think, I do respect you. Old Man. That's why I know you wouldn't let something as superficial as appearance stop you," Rikuo pronounced slowly, deadly calm. "I understand it has been centuries since that woman. Which is why I don't get what happened to land you here, mostly dead. _Again_."

Rihan blew out a breath. His chest ached, his body felt weak. She crossed his mind again, that girl with _that_ smile.

A smile like -

With his hand he reached out, and tugged Rikuo down against him. His son's skin was warm, his body stiff before he allowed the pull. He was so miraculously alive, he _existed_. The child Rihan thought he would never have.

"I'm sorry."

Rikuo's voice was tight. "What for?"

"...what for, I wonder."

His son stiffened and pulled away. "What's that supposed to mean?" And yeah, that was a pout. No anger in sight for now. Cute.

Rihan chuckled. "Still such a brat." He glanced at his father. "I got it, Old Man. No more distractions. That's why you wanted him here, right?"

The Old Man grunted. The way he eyed them both was more than a bit unsettling. "That was the idea. Rikuo, tell Rihan what your investigation has lead to so far."

A ripple of puzzlement appeared between Rihan's son's brows, but he shrugged. "A tunnel from the Three-Eyed Party's compound lead to an urban house. It location and appearance was ideal for hiding and secret meetings so long as they happened infrequently. We discovered enough pictures and information on you to assume that the Clan of a Hundred Tales is seriously obsessed with you, which is nothing new, I guess." He shot a look at Rihan and at his grandfather and continued. "Some people are decoding some serious network of notes - but that isn't our strength so it might take awhile. What we can say for sure by now though is that they've definitely got a hand in that incident eight years ago."

"Listen to this Rihan," the Old Man said, grim. "Repeat what you told me, Rikuo."

Rikuo's lips thinned. "There were pictures structured like a family tree. Dad, Yamabuki Otome-san, me and that girl. The woman's painting was crossed out, lots of notes attacked with things like 'dead' and 'resurrection failed' and stuff. I never had a sister but they seemed to be obsessed with the idea. There was a list of nonsense conditions, like -" he pulled a disgusted face - "giving birth, that they ticked me off against though and not that imaginary sister."

Rihan sat up.

Rikuo startled. "Oi, Dad, your body -"

"What? Oh, yeah. Never mind that. More importantly. That list. Those notes." _That smile._ "Did they say what became of those ideas?"

Annoyed, Rikuo pushed him back to lie down like the worrywart he pretended he wasn't. "Haven't you been listening? Besides, Sanmoto Gorozaemon or whoever that yokai is, is clearly mad – there's no telling how much is complete craziness. We need time." He looked irritable. "I'd still like to know, though, where they found a girl that looks just like they needed to."

Rihan glanced into the darkness to meet the eyes of the old man. They were hard. But Rihan could also tell that they were following the same train of thought.

So it wasn't just him again, getting carried away, getting caught up, falling, failing. Getting a feeling in his gut that unsettled him beyond word.

( _That_ smile.)

"Rikuo, you'll be staying here." The patriarch of their small blood line declared. "Keep Rihan's head straight with all these distractions. The Hyaku Monogatari will have to wait. Use this as a chance to learn, but your main task is to remember that someone with enough power to move two enemies of our family seems to have specifically targeted the Second. Be vigilant for yourself too."

"Gotcha." Suddenly Rikuo tossed Rihan a lazy smirk. "Would you look at that, Old Man. You couldn't keep me from Kyoto after all." He paused considering. "You owe Mom an apology. She got a real fright when she heard."

"Oi, don't tell her things like this."

"She was right there when I got the summon," Rikuo said unapologetically, folding his hands into his sleeves. "What was I supposed to do? Send her away? She'd know something was up then anyway."

A sigh left Riahn's lips. "Let's change the subject. What did I miss?"

Ah, there was tension again. Rihan had just about thought he had somehow misplaced it.

The Old Man twirled the pipe in his palm. "The fourth seal fell and they're expecting an attack on the third any minute. The onmyoji have an ambush planned there." How he knew something as top secret as that wasn't even worth questioning. "We'll see how it goes there before we decide on the next move. With you in that state, we'll have to change tactics anyway."

"Don't exaggerate. I'll be able to move again by this time tomorrow."

"Move." Repeated Rikuo distastefully. "You know, Zen already had a look at you and you're _still_ in this 'state'."

"Zen? You've brought him here?"

"Don't be stupid, of course I did."

"Not just the healer," the old man threw in, and smirked. "He's brought his entire own following."

Rihan stared at Rikuo, horror dawning, who held his hands up defensively. "I'd already invited the guys from Toono since it looked like some head busting was going to come up soon. Then this interfered - No way they'd turn down the chance for Kyoto. It just snowballed from there, you know." Rikuo paused. "By the way, during the day I'll hang out with my human friends."

...Who were currently at the main house of the onmyoji. "You know, I heard it isn't good to have two separate groups of friends. I feel it is my parental duty to advice you to introduce them to each other," Rihan stated, a slow smirk starting to form. The Old Man smirked too.

Rikuo turned his nose up, miffed. But only for a moment before he too smirked.

* * *

"I can't believe you! I seriously can't believe you! Are you _trying_ to get me kicked out of the family?!"

They heard the voices first. Or rather Yura's voice.

"Have you entirely lost your mind! Are you suicidal? I can just spare you the effort, just say so!"

As a group the bored Kiyojuji Patrol looked in the direction of the door.

It smashed open with the force of Yura-chan's anger.

"Hi," said Rikuo-kun. "How have you guys been doing?"

"Rikuo-kun!"

"Nura!"

"Nura-kun, I thought you were helping out your family business?" Maki wondered.

"I am. But dad needed some help, so I'm here. I'm free for the day, though." He slid into the room and onto a couch as though he wasn't straining his natural enemy's hospitality to the limit. He took a cookie. "Let me introduce you. Those are my friends from far away, like pen pales. Except family business related."

People filled into the room, all of them intimidating looking. Yura-chan glowered at each and every one. She threw the door shut behind the last with vibrating force. "Don't you dare set one foot outside this room, yokai!" Her shout rang through the wood.

Kiyotsugu, Shima, Maki and Toori tilted their heads in question. "Yokai?"

Kana was still trying to pick her jaw back up.

Rikuo-kun chuckled. "From left to right, they are Itaku, Reira, Awashima, Amezo, Dohikoa, Yukari, Gozumaru and Mezumaru. Also, my dad found Tsurara." Rikuo-kun's smile was so innocent, Kana wouldn't have believed it for a second. "They're also all very interested in yokai, so feel free to talk to them about it."

Yeah, right.

Those were all yokai.

Kana went through her mental inventory of the Nura Clan and had to admit that she hand never heard of them (as 'seen' didn't count for much since they were all disguised as human). Which, if she knew Rikuo-kun, only meant trouble.

"Oikawa-san." Shima jumped up. "You are here! We've been waiting."

The yukionna greeted him politely and then promptly forgot about him again in favour of eying the strangers with vague distrust that she curiously seemed to share with two younger dark haired boys. Kana felt her nervousness rise.

"Hoh," a blond boy glanced them over like they were a rarity but overall friendly. "So you're the guys who have to suffer spending eight hours a day with Rikuo in a confined room in that school place. You've got to have guts. I'm Awashima." He grinned a smile not unlike Rikuo's when he was laughing at an inside joke. "Like the yokai. Nice to meet you."

Kiyotsugu jumped up as though he had been sitting on hot coals. "What a marvellous name! Awashima, the yokai both boy and girl! With it surely you are predestined to encounter yokai!"

The boy looked mildly intrigued. "You know about that? You really aren't half bad, like Rikuo said." He slung an arm around Kiyotsugu-kun's neck and all but shoved his face into the computer screen. "Show me what else you got. I want to know about strong yokai. Strong yokai in Kyoto."

Someone actually asking Kiyotsugu something about yokai – it must be heaven for him.

The two girls, one very young, joined Kana, Maki-san and Toori-san on the floor. "What manner of game is this?" The older one of the two asked curiously. She seemed to radiate chill. "I have never seen its likeness before."

"That's because that moron over there made it," Maki-san thumped in Kiyotsugu's direction. "A yokai version of Go Fish. I'm Saori by the way, that's Natsumi and Kana."

"You may call me Reira."The strange girl picked up one of the cards. A peculiar sound passed her lips that Kana realized was very dignified laughter.

"Yukari," said the little girl. "I am looking forward to make your acquaintance."

Maki grinned. "Same here. I didn't know Nura had other friends, never mind girl friends." She smirked at Kana. "Looks like you've got a lot of competition."

Choking on her own spit, Kana felt her face burn. "It's not like that!"

"Sure it's not. By the way, Tsurara is hogging Nura again."

"What?" Too late Kana realized that she had walked right into it as her head turned automatically. She expected Rikuo-kun and Oikawa-san to be discussing something alone, but instead a relatively short boy leaned against the back of Rikuo-kun's couch, eyes sharp, talking to him in low tones.

Yukari-chan was expressionless, but something gave the impression of rolling eyes. "So here too. Rikuo sure is popular."

Kana blushed.

Reira-san searched her face. "There is no shame in admiring Rikuo. He is merely the kind of person where you must be aware of it, lest it grows without your knowledge to overwhelm you at inconvenient times." Her head tilted, as though pondering her own words. "Though, with him being what he is, it admit _being aware_ might be difficult."

Yukari-chan giggled.

Maki blinked at them. "What, you've got crushes on Nura too?"

"I respect him," Reira-san clarified. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap. "I dare say there are very few who don't, even those who care nothing for his well being."

"Where the hell are you from?" Maki-san looked stupefied. "This is Nura we are talking about. The guy who eats your lunch under your nose and who's crazily helpful just to see your weirded out expression when he does it."

Kana bit her lip and said nothing.

"Yes, really." Reira-san said, and her and Yukari-chan's expressions were suddenly wooden and pinched. "He does that too. That spoiled _brat_."

* * *

TBC


	11. confrontations of siblings

Act III

* * *

confrontations of siblings

* * *

The seal went down in flames.

Night sky, before hidden by the rushing spiritual energy, was visible again. Hard wind tore at her robes and goosebumps prickled her skin.

They had broken through. Just like that. As though hundreds of onmyoji working together didn't mean anything!

Yura growled and tossed out Shikigami. But there were so many yokai all of a sudden, even her numbers hardly made a dent.

"Akifusa-nii, what are you doing?!"

Her big brother, her mentor twisted his head at a horrible angle to face her. Yura gasped. His skin! His eyes, those blemishes – What were they? What happened to him?

"Yura. Yura. Yura the genius. Yura who summoned Hagun. Yura. Yura. Yura who everyone acknowledges. Yura who -"

"There are yokai everywhere! We've got to stop them! The Fukuju branch specializes in defence and they're completely defenceless! We need to help them!"

Akikusa-nii's hair was blown by the wind as he stared at her entirely unmoved. "I know. I made the weapons the yokai are using."

No.

Yura snapped her arm up, Rentei already equipping. "Why are you helping yokai? They're killing us! Killing our family! You're an onmyoji!"

This was horrible. What Yura did – the onmyoji laws she broke because of Nura-kun – they didn't matter. This is what helping yokai meant! _This_ was what was forbidden! Not yokai sneaking uninvited into houses!

She aimed -

-her body moved for her before she had time to react. Tuck and roll, Yura came up gunning for the place she had stood before.

Where Akifusa-nii now stood.

"Yuuuuraaaaaa Maaaaaax!" Bolts of her energy tore through the air, her body shook from the recoil.

If Nura-kun didn't always sneak around, she'd have died just now. "Buyoku!" She called. Her samurai shikigami withdrew from the battle against other yokai and positioned itself at her back.

 _Yokai are black, we are white._ What the hell happened to the Akifusa who so strongly believed those words?

The sclera of his eyes was invaded by tendrils of darkness.

She swore. "Who was it?! Who did this to you? Snap out of it!" Rentei gathered energy. A blast that tore up the ground shot from her arm towards Akifusa-nii.

Her mentor moved before the impact. Where -

"Run. Gengen." Water surged, its gurgling sounding like growls.

"Yura." Her brother's voice said from above. He was scowling down on them, the force of his displeasure directed at Akifusa who had dodged his attack as well.

"Ryuuji," Akifusa-nii's voice said. "Yura. Always protecting Yura. Even though I..."

Her brother jumped down from the low roof, a look of total disdain on face. "Huh? Did you says something? Can't hear you, I'm deaf to the words of demons, you know."

Yura shivered. "Onii-chan -"

A pulse of Fear thumped against Yura's skin. Her eyes sought Akifusa-nii. Something violent stirred in her stomach at the repulsing sight. It was like the onmyoji was devoured by the darkness.

What was happening to him?

"Yura," her brother said, voice at that pitch between mercilessness and condescension. "Go get Mamiru and tell him to find the bastards pulling the string behind this. They'll be watching from the shadows."

A weight lifted from her shoulders. "So a yokai did this to him? Then if we can beat it -"

"No," her brother cut her off shortly. He opened more flasks of water. Something exploded in the background. Screams were carried by the wind. "Go fetch Mamiru, then protect the others. I'll take care of Akifusa."

Akifusa watched them. Real yokai Fear emanated from him. But at the same time Yura couldn't shake the feeling that there was something very human about him still.

"Go!" Her brother shouted, and her body moved on its own.

She didn't look back. She couldn't afford to look back. The Second Seal, Soukoku-ji, was falling. If they could hold out until dawn, at least protect the seal itself -

Iron filled her stomach as she ran. There were battles everywhere. More and more yokai. And so, _so many bodies_. Fury raged and she powered it into her shikigami. But it wasn't enough. No matter what she did, it was _useless._ She lacked power. The Keikai family lacked power. The Harogomo Kitsune yokai were too strong.

She could summon eight shikigami at once and even the Hagun, but in the end it made no _difference._

She found Mamiru just as he was blowing a pair of yokai to bits. But even Mamiru-kun's monstrous strength changed _nothing_.

"Mamiru-kun! Onii-chan said -" As soon as she had got the words out, he ran off in the direction Yura came from.

She hesitated briefly. What was she supposed to do now? Akifusa-nii? Or the seal?

It wasn't really a choice. Akifusa-nii might still be able to be saved. She'd find the yokai who did that to him and t _ear it to shreds_.

Frustration and despair and humiliation pumped her blood faster. Her feet pounded the ground.

Nura-kun flashed before her eyes again, arrogant and smirking, selfish and audacious.

He was so different, it was painful. Even Nura-san, when he came to the Keikain main house …

Yura gritted her teeth, jumped over a body and rushed back down the path she came from. Akifusa-nii. Onii-chan.

Taking a short cut through the undergrowth, she laid eyes on the scene. Onii-chan's victory. Alive. But just as she wanted to call out to him, something happened. Her brother gasped, and fell. A spike the size of her arm slid out of his leg.

It grew _out of_ Akifusa's neck.

Wha..?

"Onii-chan!" The world narrowed down. That... _thing_ …grew and twisted into a long shape, a large eyeball taking up the most of it. "Damn you, yokai! I knew it was your doing! Get out of Akifusa-nii right now!"

It giggled. "Harogomo Kitsune-sama, I don't think I can keep hold of this body much longer. May I leave it?"

Pine trees rustled. Fear that had been slowly growing suddenly was right _there._ Yura's head snapped around. Her blood froze at the sight of white, white bones in the form of a skeleton yokai taller than the average house. An army was illuminated by the light of flames and ghostly orbs behind it. On the demon's head – a girl. Her Fear shot right into Yura's very bones.

They had been right there? Yura hadn't noticed them?

"Do not," the girl said, pale face and lips forming a fairly pleasant smile. "This is a battle between onmyoji. We can't just have it end, now can we? Not before the conclusion."

Yura snapped.

Papers all carefully scripted by her hand, embedded with names and a call each rose at her energy's fire. "Shikigami Hagun!" It had been a long time since she had summoned it last. She remembered the oppressive, disbelieving silence when she had, and the sudden activity and praise. She had not been allowed to hold Hagun since, just like any other onmyoji, but she had been sent to Ukiyoe to gain that right. When she had returned and been told to script her own vessels for it, it had not been because she earned it but because it was necessary.

Hagun however still answered her call, unchanged from back then. Skeletons rose out of the papers and lined up behind her. The pool of power she sensed from it was near endless. It rocked her perception.

Mamiru-kun darted in and removed her brother from Akifusa.

With this, with Hagun -

The air shimmered above Akifusa-nii's head. Light and darkness gleamed off the blade of a sword as it cut ruthlessly, without stopping through the conjunction between Akifusa-nii and the demon possessing him.

Both Akifusa and the demon screamed. Akifusa-nii silenced first, if only because he lost conscience.

The other, the demon was half formed on the ground. Nura-kun stepped on its struggling body and held the tip of his blade ready to pierce the eyeball. Difficult to perceive as usual, darkness was still visibly coiling around her school friend's form, harsh and destructive. His eyes were glowing with such cold intensity it was well visible from even over a dozen meters away.

The voice that came from his mouth was nearly unrecognisable, it was so dark. "Long time no see, creepy giggling fuck."

The demon was silent for as long as it needed to focus on its assailant. Then it _shrieked_. It wasn't a normal kind of shriek. High and terrified, it seemed to almost dissolve in its attempt to get away from the Nurarihyon. It was the shriek one would expect when faced with a greatest nightmare. "Nura! Nura! Nura Rikuo! _Nura!_ _Curse you_! Release me! Unhand me right now!"

Nura-kun dug the tip of his sword into the yokai's shoulder. The yokai silenced. It giggled half mad.

"Nura. Nuranuranura," it muttered. "Nura Rikuo! Harogomo Kitsune-sama! Save me!"

Vaguely, Yura was aware of something -looking like spider threads - snagging Akifusa and dumping him at her brother's feet, but she couldn't be bothered to follow it to its source. The scene happening in front of her caught her spell bound.

"Who is this young one, Minagoroshi Jizou?" Harogomo Kitsune questioned, not seeming very invested in saving one of her own. On the contrary, she seemed to be hardly noticing him, her full attention on Nura-kun. "He is familiar yet I am sure I have never met him before."

"Rikuo," a voice warned lowly from the darkness of the trees to Yura's right. "The Nidaime said not to engage her."

"Hoh," Nura-kun said darkly, not taking the eyes of the yokai under his feet. "She doesn't recognize me? How very _interesting._ Then there is only one question left to ask before I kill you." He twisted the sword viciously. "Who do you belong to really? Hyaku Monogatari? Or someone else? _Who_ is the one really picking a fight with the Nura Clan? Tell me!" He shouted, voice charged with power so much that it seemed to bear its own weight.

The demon froze under him. "YOU."All of its three eyes focused on Nura-kun with sudden intensity that chased away all the terror. "You! It was you! You were the one! _**You**_! If only YOU hadn't interfered! How dare you -"

Swishing of air with considerable force.

Nura-kun only barely managed to bring up his sword in time.

The force of the impact send him flying down the path. He crushed into the stone hard enough to leave a crater. Harogomo Kitsune's yokai descended on him like flies. Nura-kun picked himself up and didn't even bother to look at them.

Yura had her mouth half opened to shout a warning when those yokai disintegrated, were torn to shreds, crushed, frozen, cut or otherwise by at least three dozen shadows suddenly announcing their presence.

They landed at the Nurarihyon's back and those small fry yokai were suddenly not so eager anymore to attack.

Yura recognized Oikawa-san and at least half of those yokai Nura-kun had tricked her into admitting to the main house this afternoon. There were also those two from Nejireme-yama.

It was only a small part of the hyakki he was usually surrounded by. Yet this intimidating presence to stand at a stand still with the yokai army all of the Keikain had been overrun by…

"Who are you?" Harogomo Kitsune slid down from her perch, landing on the ground with floating ease. Yura tried to get Hagun to attack her while the fox was so…fixed on Nura-kun, but the army of the dead didn't move.

"Truly, you are familiar," she said, so _very_ intrigued. "Your face irritates me. Yet I would know had I encountered a yokai such as yourself before. Minagoroshi Jizou, who is he?" Hair fell away from her face. "Do not tell me you do not know."

That yokai who had possessed Akifusa stopped stuttering his gratitude for the rescue. Words stuck in his throat. "Harogomo Kitsune-sama. My Lady. He is no one you need to concern yourself with."

Her eyes were cold. "You are of my following, no? If he is a concern of yours it must be one of mine. Do not make me ask again."

Minagoroshi Jizou stuttered. Its body was still half destroyed.

Why didn't it answer?

The invading yokai army stirred with murmurs.

That at least seemed to snap the yokai out of it. It bowed deep. "That one you see over there is a nothing. Just a filthy halfbreed from the Kanto region. He is not your equal."

"Naturally," Harogomo Kitsune said, stroking hair over her shoulder. "Still, so very familiar. Have we met before, boy?" She rubbed her temple.

Nura-kun's face smoothed over. His eyes were extremely cold and calculating. He easeed faintly out of his ready stance. "You tried to kill me eight years ago," he said flatly. "Mostly my father, but also me." His lips curled. When his eyes slid to Minagoroshi Jizou they filled with loathing. "That one so pathetically whining stood by and laughed."

Harogomo Kitsune stilled. "Your father." Her second hand joined the first in rubbing her temples. "How foolish. I have never met an ayakashi that slips through Fear and wards alike. Such a useful ability. Why would I wish to kill you if I'd rather you join my ranks."

Nura-kun stared blankly. "You exchanged blows with him just the night before last."

The ranks of Harogomo Kitsune's yokai stirred more.

Just what was going on here? Yura couldn't make heads or tails of it. But at the same time there was nothing she could do but watch.

A yokai wearing the skin of an old man approached the fox girl respectfully. "He is a descendant of the yokai who destroyed our ambition four hundred years ago, my Lady. The resemblance is strong."

"….Four hundred years…? Ah yes, now I remember. How odd, I would have sworn I could never forget the face of that brute." Fear leaked out of her again, and only now Yura noted its previous absence.

In fact until now she had been positively amiable towards Nura-kun.

 _What_ was going on?

Malice so acid Yura felt it eat at her skin flowed out of that petite form. "How shall I kill you?"

Nura-kun shifted his blade, gold eyes glowing over the edge of it. Mist curled along his feet, the special magic of a hyakki. It spread and rose, quickly deepening shadows and playing with perceptions.

"Rikuo," one of his followers said, annoyed. He was handling a pair of sickles.

Yura felt she was choking on tension and tried again to get her Hagun to move. Instead it spoke. She almost fell over. But not as much as she did when out of nothing a hand grasped her. Her feet left the ground as she was slung over someone's shoulder.

"Wha – let me down you – Nura-kun?"

"We're leaving," he told her shortly. Yokai were all around them but either they were following Nura-kun's lead or they didn't even glance at them. They were all focused on the Nura-kun and the others who still stood surrounded on all sides. A large scale illusion.

"Unhand me, yokai! I can walk myself!" She kicked and struggled until Nura-kun set her down. "Let go of me." She tried to bat his hand of her shoulder.

He clicked his tongue, irritated. "Can't," he said shortly. "You're human so my Fear that keeps us unnoticed won't include you unless I do this. Your brother and his friend are already gone, by the way."

"Still, stop! What are we doing anyway, running? We've got to beat her!" She tried to get him to let her go again.

"I hate to agree with an onmyoji, but she has a point." A blond female yokai grunted. "Oi, Rikuo, we came here 'cause you promised us a fight. Not to babysit and rescue humans." Waving her hand, she caught tendrils of manifested Fear in her palm, twirling them annoyed.

"Shut up, Toono Yokai," Oikawa-san snapped. "The Young Master knows what he does. Rihan-sama's condition to come watch were _not_ to fight."

That yokai with the sickles grunted, arms crossed. "For you maybe. But we from Toono don't take orders from anyone, Nura or not. Rikuo, explain yourself."

Nura-kun sighed. Running a hand through his hair, he opened his mouth -

It wasn't Nura-kun's voice that spoke. "Yes, really, that was a wonderful getaway. I'm impressed. So this is what being part of a Hyakkiyako is like. Very exciting!" A white clad onmyoji was floating over their heads. He studied Nura-kun. "Tell me, are you Nura-chan's son or grandson? You look very much like him, two peas in a pod I would say."

Oikawa-san eeped and pointed. "W-w-who are you? How can you do this? What sort of demon are you? Have you come to harm Rikuo-sama?"

"So slow," the sickle guy muttered.

"You're that one who spoke to me!" Yura shouted, recognizing him. "You can move? You can _talk_? Even though you're just a shikigami?"

"Why yes, I can." Her shikigami said, smiling cheerfully. Floating to the ground, he just walked alongside a demon parade as though it was nothing. By now they had left the temple ground and it seemed Nura-kun's deception was discovered, going by the howls of fury.

"I'm Hidemoto, the 13th. Nice to meet you, descendant. On that note, cut the thought of going back to fight her out of your mind. It's foolishness. You'd have died. I don't really fancy loosing my summoner already."

Yura's mouth shut.

Had her shikigami just told her what to do? Had her shikigami just _lectured_ her?

"Nura-chan's relative, good job on recognizing that."

Nura-kun eyed him and his lips pressed together. "Whatever. I didn't decide it because of that." He gave his attention to the two who had complained and some of the others beside. "I'm sorry guys. I didn't expect that it would be like that. I know you don't like to follow orders."

Somehow this was different from Nura-kun's usual parade. The majority didn't seem to be his subordinates at all and searched him for his sincerity. Yura hadn't noticed how much she had let her guard down until now where it was clear those yokai might -

She sweat dropped. Or maybe not. They stopped their grumbling so fast it could hardly be called a token effort.

The only guy who might possibly not be entirely obedient to Nura-kun's words was the one with the sickles who mumbled, "whatever. We did get to fight some. It wasn't an entire waste."

"Don't be angry with me," Nura-kun requested. "There'll be other chances to fight against the strongest yokai Kyoto has to offer."

...did he seriously _not_ notice how they only tried to pretend?

Ah. No. Yura didn't want to know. Yokai politics and powerplays and stuff were none of her business. No, thanks.

"Rikuo-sama," Oikawa-san spoke up, interrupting Yura's fierce self hypnosis. "Isn't it about time you let that girl go?"

"Hm?" Nura-kun blinked. He looked around. They were pretty far away from the temple by now, in the middle of the town.

Yura turned red and beat his hand of with a smack. "Don't touch me, yokai! I didn't need your help!"

Nura-kun held his hands up. The parade's magic of mixed Fears dispersed. "Sorry, sorry." He smirked. "Next time I'll just knock you out and save myself some bruises."

Yura tossed three dozen ofudas at him. "Be gone! Be gone! Be gone, evil spirit!"

"So," said her shinigami, completely ignoring Yura's attempts at exorcism. He seemed very fascinated by Nura-kun. "No really, are you Nura-chan's son or grandson? My guess is grandson as you seem a bit young to be Yo-hime's child. Is he doing well?"

Nura-kun blinked at the ghostly onmyoji all the while avoiding Yura's ofuda with insulting ease. "The old man's my grandfather. What do you want?"

Hidemoto the 13th smiled. "Catching up with an old friend would be nice," he suggested. "But mostly, since the old fox is running around …. is your Clan fighting her, and do you still have the sword I made?"

Nura-kun did a double take. "The sword you made – you mean the Nenekirimaru?"

"That's the one."

Folding his hands into the sleeves of his kimono, Nura-kun studied Yura's ancestor with more attention than before. "We do. It's the sword of the Supreme Commander. My father's at the moment. There seems to be a story here. Do I need to know it?"

"Oh, not really. It's long and boring," Hidemoto waved a dismissive hand. "What's important is that without that sword and Yura-chan's Hagun together Harogomo Kitsune can't be defeated."

Nura-kun's lips twitched, though not in a smile. "We're having our own issues with her, so cooperating shouldn't be a problem."

"Rikuo-sama, should you not speak of this to Rihan-sama first?" Oikawa-san proposed. "The onmyoji did turn down our assistance after all."

Hidemoto's smile lost its sincerity. "They did what?"

Nura-kun shook his head at Oikawa. "It's fine. What the onmyoji want or don't want has nothing to do whatsoever with what we do. If they've got an issue with how we are fighting and interfering then that's their problem. So long as Yura is willing to work together regardless of her family's position, we don't care." He glanced at Yura from the corner of his eyes. "You want to defeat her, don't you?"

Yura gritted her teeth. What was she supposed to say to that? "Of course I do."

He grinned.

Just like that Yura had given her word to break even more family laws, possibly a hell of a lot more. Damn word twisting yokai!

"Wonderful!" Hidemoto clapped his hands. "And don't you worry about the Keikain – I'll be giving them a stern talking too. Turning down the help of the yokai that defeated Harogomo Kitsune four hundred years ago – really what are my descendants thinking?"

What?

"I'm not particularly worried," Nura-kun said drily. "We're just here to cut ties with the fox. The onmyoji've got no say in that."

What did he say?

"I couldn't help but overhear by the way. You seem to be a pretty combative bunch. Would you be interested in taking out some strong yokai in specific locations that we need to rebuild the seal?" Hidemoto wondered, looking at the assembled yokai curiously.

About three quarters of them promptly got glints in their eyes, Nura-kun included. "How strong are we talking?" The blond girl demanded.

"Oh, high level, upper echelon, legendary strong. Old, experienced. That sort of thing." Hidemoto said casually, cheerfully.

"Where would we find such yokai?" Nura-kun wanted to know.

"Rikuo-sama," Oikawa-san hissed lowly. One of the two Gyuki demons jabbed an elbow in his master's side without effect.

Hidemoto hummed. "I'd like to let you know later. Since it wouldn't help much if you took them out without an onmyoji around to apply the seal."

Grumbling. Crazy yokai.

Also crazy ancestor.

Yura got a headache thinking too much about how this situation developed.

"Fine," Rikuo-kun said. "It's almost morning anyway and there's a lot of stuff I need to talk to the old men about. Yura knows how to contact me."

Overhead, the sky was indeed turning gray. In some of the buildings around them, lights were already turned on in preparation for the day.

"Come on guys, we're heading back. Maybe the others will have left some drinks for us." Nura-kun's haori swirled with the wind of his motion as he turned down the street. "Nice meeting you, Hidemoto. Try to stay alive Yura. Till later."

None of his yokai murmured anything as polite, though Hidemoto happily returned the sentiment and waved until the demons were gone from sight.

…

Yura felt _exhausted._ Damn yokai, stupid yokai she couldn't just blast into oblivion. What was wrong that they costed her more energy than the battle before?

"Ah, ah, ah, you can't rest yet, Yura-chan." Her ancestor said, voice only carrying half the amiability it had before. His gaze was focused in the distance. "There's a lot you've still got to do, starting with letting me meet the current head of the family."


	12. spider disasters

Act III

* * *

spider disasters

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Yura-chan muttered depressed. Sundown had passed and yokai were out and about, though none had become visible enough to invite extermination, yoki fairly polluting the air.

"Not as much as me," said her brother, deadpan. "We're onmyoji. This is humiliating."

"Don't be so stiff," Hidemoto encouraged. "Have some fun. Yokai are a lot more entertaining than humans. Besided, what they fight you don't have to. It's a win-win situation."

His efforts reaped him twin disgusted stares.

"I can't believe that is the honoured 13th Hidemoto everyone speaks about," grumbled Ryuji-chan. "Let's just get this over with."

Yura-chan muttered something and pulled out one of these funny little communication devices that were entirely without magic and still fit in a pocket. "What's taking you? No, I don't want to know – shut up. Can't you just – oh, forget it!" Enraged, she stuffed the thing away.

It seemed the young Nurarihyon from last night saw it as his hobby to make Yura-chan lose her temper as often as possible. Always living on the edge of a blade – so much like his grandfather.

Speaking of which, Hidemoto hoped he was going to come too. He was always so interesting.

"Hyakkiyako is coming. Ryuji, will we eliminate them?" Questioned poor Mamiru who was a victim of circumstances and curses.

Ryuji-chan clicked his tongue in irritation as ghostly mist gathered and eerie laughter teased just at the edge of perception. "No. We're just here to take advantage of them."

Yura-chan crossed her arms and dug her fingers into them. Really, you'd think she'd be much more at ease given her obvious familiarity with at least some of the yokai. How cute.

The mist moved, revealing a tall yokai with glowing gold eyes at the head of parade that had lots of familiar faces and plenty of new ones and wow, talk about lookalike. "You're Hidemoto, huh?"

Hidemoto smiled widely. "That's right. And you must be Nura-chan and Yo-hime's son. Shame we never met when I was alive."

"Nura Rihan," the Nurarihyon confirmed, smiling broadly. "Now which one is the first of tonight's yokai we can have some fun with? It sounds very exciting, powerful old yokai sealed away and stuff."

Hidemoto pointed at an omokaruishi.

"That's a stone," the grandson observed flatly.

"That omokaruishi is a trigger, yokai brat. The yokai is a spirit away type, a Nijunanamen Senju Mukade." Ryuji-chan grunted, apparently very disgusted he had to explain it in the first place.

"The danger with it is that you must take it on in its own territory, a forest of thousand torii. Or so my information goes." Hidemoto added.

"Hmm -" said Nura-chan's son.

"- interesting." Said Nura-chan's grandson, who had somehow in the interim where Hidemoto's full attention wasn't on him slipped over to the stone. Without any hesitation whatsoever he lifted it.

"Rikuo-sama!" Half the parade shouted in appalled shock.

"It's light," the grandson observed thoughtfully, tossing it from one hand to the other. He glanced around. "And I'm still here. Are you sure this thing isn't broken?"

"Let me try," a female ayakashi demanded, taking it from his hands. "Of! It's heavy! What the hell."

Hidemoto clapped his hands. "There you have it. You, blond ayakashi, will be spirited away soon."

An eyebrow rose up. "Really?" A broad smile split her face. "Haha! You hear that? I'll be the first! In your face guys!" She stuck her tongue out.

"No you don't Awashima!" An entire bunch of yokai darted forward and tore the stone from her hands. A monkey like yokai and a variation of a kappa were the only ones who also got a heavy response.

"What? The thing picks and chooses?" Nura-chan's grandson questioned. He seemed quite irritated by that fact.

"Sure it does," Hidemoto confirmed. "After all, why would it want a Nurarihyon if it can't even notice you lifted it's stone up? I'm sure it has preferences on who it wishes to fight."

The grandson pulled a face.

"Those Toono guys," muttered a monk, annoyed, from Nura-chan's son's side. "Rihan-sama, may we...?"

Nura Rihan waved a hand dismissively. "Sure, go ahead. Everyone who wants to try, have a go." He took a few steps back and sat down on the head of a flying snake. "It won't invite me, how disappointing..." he lamented as the Night Parade lined up to lift that stone.

Hidemoto sweat dropped. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea, Rihan-chan. Nijunanamen Senju Mukade has been known to tear Hyakkiyakos apart."

A gold eye slid lazily to him. "It hasn't tried ours."

Well. That was true. But still, Hidemoto wondered where on the fine line between confidence and overconfidence Rihan-chan stood.

"Hey," Rikuo-chan spoke up. "Awashima's gone."

The yokai stirred and murmured and looked around.

"So are Amezo and Dohiko," a comparatively short yokai observed, arms crossed. That one had a lot of intensity. "And the others the stone picked."

"So we've got nothing to do but wait for them to beat the yokai?" Rikuo-chan said, displeased. "Oi, Hidemoto, are the yokai at the other seals also like this?"

"Hmmm? Oh, no." Hidemoto assured. "At the next location, Hashira Imperial Villa, there's an entire group of Konnyaku Bozu for example. A lot of variety was put into the seal."

Rikuo-chan eyed him. "You make it sound like cooking." But he shrugged in easy dismissal and turned to hyakkiyako. "Hey, you lot, while we're waiting, who wants to see how many small time kyoto yokai we can get a good scream out of around here?"

Except for the lot that seemed to be tied to Rikuo-chan primarily, all of the yokai looked at Rihan-chan for permission again. Who gave it casually. "Stay on the temple grounds." As leader he couldn't just leave while some of his people were caught in a sub-world, but apparently that didn't mean his following couldn't.

The yokai cheered.

"Wanna come along, Yura?" Rikuo-chan had the gall to ask Yura-chan. She was adorably caught left footed and managed to convey her refusal through gestures and swears rather than coherent words.

Hidemoto thought it very promising for the future that it seemed to be a habitual refusal more than real dislike at the idea of going yokai hunting with yokai.

Ryuji-chan made a noise of utter disgust. "He's corrupting her."

"Isn't it great?" Hidemoto agreed, smiling, but found his attention as usual quickly straying back to the most interesting thing around, which happened to be Rihan-chan.

He had to be near four hundred years old at this point, but obviously didn't look it. Didn't carry himself like it either, though he seemed to be past the phase of unstoppable impatient restless wildness that so rolled of his child and that had been very much at its climax in Nura-chan four hundred years ago.

His Fear was hard to perceive of course, but it was there to a degree that Hidemoto could not detect a difference to Nura-chan's even though Rihan-chan was only half. It was promising in terms of odds for this conflict. Still, there was something…

Hidemoto approached the split hyakkiyako and had to be waved through by a funny yokai without neck to even get within comfortable speaking distance of their leader. "Say, Rihan-chan," Hidemoto began, voice lowered a bit more than probably warranted and didn't he just _feel_ Ryuji-chan's suspicious stare? "I couldn't help but notice Harogomo Kitsune behaved very odd yesterday. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

Rihan-chan's sole open eye looked directly at him. "You mean when she encountered Rikuo?" He seemed to want to know solely for clarification. "I don't have any familiarity with her when she's not 'odd' and the old man hasn't seen her in person yet. What do you mean 'odd' precisely?"

"A number of things. That she didn't seem to have any recollection of any Nurarihyon at first despite Rikuo-chan's near mirror image and the fact that for her it has been a decade at most since Nura-chan cut her in half. I heard that you had an encounter with her very recently, yet she did not recall that either. She seemed in fact rather...fond of Rikuo-chan at first despite the first impression he made."

Hidemoto could go on, like how she hadn't noticed him at all despite the grudge she bore him, but as he didn't seem to be telling Rihan-chan anything new, he just finished with his point. "There was peculiar yokai in her following that wasn't there the last time and that your son seemed to take more exception to than the fox herself. What is the Hyaku Monogatari? What hand does it have in Harogomo Kitsune's revival?"

Rihan-chan looked at him for a long time. His bodyguard, the neckless one, had tensed at the mention of Minagoroshi Jizou.

"It's a rather complicated issue," Rihan-chan voiced at long last, taping a finger against his knee. "We're still figuring things out ourselves, but the Hyaku Monogatari is a Clan I destroyed a few centuries ago. Started out as a human gathering and turned into yokai more or less. That giant eyeball is a member."

"His specialty is hypnosis," the body guard added, scowling darkly. "Very strong but not impossible to resist."

Hypnosis. Really.

"As for what a hand they have in this..." Rihan-chan shrugged. "I'm tending towards puppet masters at the moment for a number of reasons. Which reminds me. You wouldn't happen to know if there are any ways of creating a human of the likes that Harogomo Kitsune needs for host, would you?"

Hidemoto felt his eyes sharpen. Onmyoji claimed to be all 'white', pure and without fault, but Hidemoto had had access to information in his times that was blacker than most yokai and that had been inherited from his predecessors. "If there were, why would you be interested?"

Rihan-chan was quiet for a long time, the silence around him growing heavy. The floating snake shifted uneasily. "I'm disinclined to believe that a girl who looks exactly like my late wife and who plays with my son happily can turn into Harogomo Kitsune by coincidence upon hearing a certain phrase that she had no reason to know."

Hidemoto hid his mouth behind his sleeves. "That would be the attempted murder thing that Rikuo-chan referred to, yes? Which the old fox also didn't remember."

"That, yes." Rihan-chan said it fairly indifferently, but the closest yokai guards all got very ominous expressions, the one without neck in particular.

Hidemoto hummed, his mind shifting through the possibilities. "Generally creating humans from nothing isn't possible. Not real ones anyway, not the kind that have to last beyond an illusion. Certainly not the kind that have to house an old fox lady and her yokai powers." He smiled brightly. "I'll look it up, we seem to gather up quite a debt in this mess after all."

Snorting, Rihan-chan said, "I have a feeling that whatever debt the onmyoji will owe us, Rikuo will use up quickly. He always has so much fun dragging Yura-chan around. But enough of that. Seems like Nijunanamen Senju Mukade has been taken care of."

Hidemoto stretched his ghostly senses. Being dead was strange, but there were tremors of Fear lapping like waves against his perception.

"Ha!" A shout of triumph disturbed the quiet of the temple grounds. "Take that you stupid thing! That's what you get for messing with Toono!"

From the long line of toriis, the blond female yokai emerged, bloodied but triumphant, spear in one hand, dragging the Nijunanamen Senju Mukade together with the lizard kappa down the steps.

She was grinning widely, her fellow spirited away victims less so, but they all seems to be not much worse for the wear. The smallest and weakest of the night parade all but came running to their commander swearing it was them who single-handedly defeated the infamous ayakashi. Rihan-chan humored them as Hidemoto withdrew to Yura-chan's side.

"Here ya go, onmyoji." The yokai girl tossed their defeated opponent at the onmyoji's feet. "Now lets see that seal thingy that you're so proud of."

Ryuji-chan clicked his tongue in disgust. "Stand back unless you want to be sealed as well. Watch and learn Yura." Starting to murmur words under his breath, the blessed wooden spike that had lasted for four hundred years lifted into the air.

The yokai oh-ed and ah-ed like watching fireworks.

It rammed into the yokai and into the ground. Like a cork to a flask, the stream of dark energy that had streamed from the spot cut off.

Someone whistled lowly. "Impressive."

"We're done here now? Where was the next location?" Natto Kozo wondered. "If we're done that quickly with all the places, we'll finish by tonight, Supreme Commander."

Rihan-chan slipped off his snake, grinning, just as the rest of the parade returned from their roaming, Rikuo-chan included.

"Oi, Rikuo, you really missed a fight," the blond yokai told him. Swinging an arm around his shoulder, she started boasting of her fight not unlike the little yokai did to Rihan-chan.

"Good job everyone."Rihan-chan announced. "Next local attraction is Hashira Imperial Villa. Let's go."

The parade cheered. Rihan-chan tossed the onmyoji a look that glinted very, very impishly. "Do you need a ride?"

Hidemoto had to hide a snort that was anything but dignified. How outrageous!

Yura-chan grit her teeth so hard, it was a wonder she didn't break them. "No, thank you." She got out. "Nura-san."

Rikuo-chan snorted. The glint in his eyes spoke of great delight, but he impressively resisted further poking as he instead took comfortable steps to fade away with the rising demonic mist.

Rihan-chan halted his steps before they could disappear entirely. Rikuo-chan turned around a heartbeat later, sight focusing on something in the sky. "Wha…?"

It was then that Hidemoto sensed it. "Yura-chan -!"

The hyakkiyako _moved_ on some unspoken sign. Ryuji-chan drove for his sister.

A lard shadow fell, the earth shook and broke, dust and debris blew around. As a more or less incorporeal spirit, Hidemoto was untouched by the devastation the mere arrival of this ayakashi brought.

Tsuchigumo.

A catastrophe on two legs.

" **Strong ones**! Aren't there any _strong ones_!" Fists punched around and hit some stray ayakashi. "Come out! Come out wherever you are! I heard your're supposed to be strong. Fight me!"

The entire temple grounds were devastated within seconds. It was only after Tsuchigumo rampaged for minutes, that he calmed down enough to let dust settle.

Yura-chan had survived, protected by her brother and Mamiru-chan.

Further away, pieces of the broken earth had been caught and set up like a wall as a shield against more debris. But it had not protected all of the night parade. Rikuo-chan for example, who had been too far away, had blood running down his temples and a yukionna was collapsed in his arms.

Tsuchigumo puffed a smoke. "So there _are_ some strong ones. It's been so long!"

The stones were shoved to the side by one of Rihan-chan's big bodyguards.

Rihan-chan stepped forward. His single eye drifted over the devastation caused, the yokai that had been hit and were dead, dying or buried alive. His attention stalled at his son's figure who was barely hurt, closest followers included, but who seemed to be in staring at the injured snow woman in a state of shock. Shock that was steadily growing into rage.

Survey finished, his entire demeanour changed as he set his gaze on Tsuchigumo. Darkness rose visibly from his skin, but it in turn only made it harder to sense him. "Take the wounded and withdraw to a safe distance," he said in a voice that carried but was from its timbre anything but human anymore.

"Hoh, what kind of yokai are you?" Tsuchigumo's voice thundered, travelling down into bones. The fact alone that he was still able to look at Rihan-chan spoke of his power. "Are you strong? If you're strong, entertain me! Let's have some fun!"

" _Fun?_ "

It took Hidemoto longer than he liked to admit to place that distorted voice. Yura-chan caught on first. "Nura...kun…?"

Hidemoto couldn't blame her for her confusion. He didn't recognize the boy at first glance either.

The sclera of his eyes was entirely soaked with blackness, pupils pools of sulphur. Most distorting was the Fear. It was nothing like what Hidemoto was used to from Nurarihyons. It was abrasive, aggressive and consumed everything around it, even having an effect on Rikuo-chan's appearance.

The yukionna he had handed off to be tended to by another of her kind. Even from here Hidemoto could see red colouring her robes.

"Just for a fight, you didn't have to hurt anyone." Rikuo-chan growled. The blade he pulled from its sheath immediately turned pitch black as he moved forward. Hidemoto could tell it was a spirit sword, if not as great a one as Nuekirimaru – getting charged with that kind of Fear, it would not hold long.

It was fascinating to observe. While visual senses were transfixed on Rikuo-chan and the energy rolling off him, all other senses were drawn in by Rihan-chan even though or precisely _because_ he was at the very edge of disappearing from them all.

"What sort of yokai turns down a good fight?" Rihan-chan took slow steps, drawing his sword at an equally still pace. 'Still' - That was the right word. Like water at night. Depth impossible to be judged. "Attack like this and _no one_ is interested in a _fight_."

Even Hidemoto almost didn't notice how yokai spread out and surrounded Tsuchigumo from all sides, at a reasonable distance.

Rikuo-chan charged head on. Hidemoto couldn't tell if it was foolheartly or if he was still calm enough to notice the preparations his father took. Nonetheless it was thoughtless move that got him Tsuchigumo's fist straight on.

Hidemoto had to look twice. It wasn't Rikuo-chan who took the damage, his sword cutting like a finger through water through whatever natural protection usually kept Tsuchigumo reasonably unhurt. Rikuo-chan's Fear devoured it all.

In the mean time, Rihan-chan had disappeared. He became visible again together with a fountain of blood sprouting from where an arm had been attached to the body.

Rihan-chan landed on the ground easily and slashed Nuekirimaru. Blood pained a half moon on the stone.

A breeze of wind blew strands of hair out of Rihan-chan's face, revealing his eyes which locked on to Tsuchigumo's glowing red ones.

Nothing was remotely human about Rihan-chan anymore. Rihan-chan was still, empty, his mind clear and void of all those things that marked mortal beings, humans and ayakashi alike.

It was a bit like looking at an ashura. Mortals had no business laying eyes on them, for their own sanity's sake.

Yura-chan trembled, Hidemoto felt her mind strain under the pressure.

Rikuo-chan was difficult too, but while power looped in visible ways from him, he was still very much... _mortal_. The emotions, the expressions on his face, the anger made it so.

Tsuchigumo grunted and tried to move, but blood red strings kept his mobility to a minimum. He kept putting more force behind the arm Rikuo-chan's blade was piercing, all but splitting the limb on it himself.

Rikuo-chan's Fear ate into the flesh, tendrils reaching. Swallowing, erasing. Whatever technique Rikuo-chan utilized to turn his Fear so thoroughly aggressive made him reckless, wild. Hidemoto became uneasy, thinking about what something like that turned the already unpredictable and wild Nurarihyon nature into.

Only when Tsuchigumo pushing more of his arm into the sword did Rikuo-chan withdraw, repositioning himself for a new attack. Energy marked by the absence of light concentrated on a blade which was returned to its sheath for an iai.

Of four arms, down to two within minutes.

The hyakkiyako cheered and roared, further thickening the web of interwoven Fear in the air.

It was this resonance between the Fear of the close knit members of the Clan that really made it _count,_ that made a hyakkiyako _more_ than just a gathering of strong demons. Not that it seemed to matter in this case. Hidemoto found that to be as exciting as it was frightening.

At the other end of the makeshift battlefield, opposite of Rikuo-cahn and with Tsuchigumo between them, Fear engulfed Rihan-chan's form, but is was _not_ his own Fear. The Gyuki demon from Nura-chan's time dissolved around him, adapting, changing, becoming a _weapon_.

Tsuchigumo froze and stared. "Ah," he said, not afraid.

"No one wants to fight you if you harm one of ours – we want to _destroy_ you. Remember that for the next time. If you survive." Rihan-chan attacked.

Rikuo-chan's sword flashed. And scattered.

It was over.

A rain of blood followed. Hidemoto heard his summoner's breath stutter with shock and awe. "How-"

How indeed. Before this day, Hidemoto would not have considered that it might be possible to meet Harogomo Kitsune on equal terms.

Clearly, sometime in the last four hundred years the Nura Clan had evolved, and was growing still.

* * *

TBC

(That AU factor that I mentioned in the beginning? It's starting to matter from now on.)


	13. fragments

Act III

* * *

fragments

* * *

Hagoromo Kitsune was not an ayakashi that was to be taken lightly at any time. It was a fact she was well aware of. From her reputation alone it was assumed that such things as yokai not sincerely loyal to her would not even dare show her face.

It was not quite pleasing to notice that this may have changed over the last four hundred years.

Her devoted servants crowded around Minagoroshi Jizou as she ate her dinner, pressuring him for explanations on matters that apparently were unexplained. Hagoromo Kitsune did not pay them much attention for she had far more important things going through her mind.

(How could anything be more important than the loyalty of her servants to her, thus her baby?)

That yokai boy, that young one. Nura Rikuo, his name was. Nura Rihan, that boy's father apparently. Someone she had traded blows with this century.

Both were descendants of that vermin four hundred years ago. How could she ever forget that one's face? She had cursed him, loathed him, the mere thought of him made her blood boil. Yet when she recalled Nura Rikuo's features, so similar, she did not feel hate. She out to be despising his very existence, the very idea of him. And she _did_.

But when she remembered that face, round in youthfulness and ( _-onee-chanwho'reyouopenandsweet_ )

Pain built behind her eyes. She stopped eating.

( _-onee-chanwho'reyou_ )

It was nothing too unusual to forget a day or two, such things happened. After all those days were irrelevant without her child in them.

( _Child?-_ _child_ _ofherandhim_ _beloved_ _-_ who?)

"Minagoroshi Jizou," her voice said, and sudden deathly silence followed. Her chair scrapped over the floor as she stood and she was surprised to find balance deserting her. "Explain to me why that boy does not leave my mind, why you had better not lay a hand on him ever again." The words leaving her lips were not those she intended. However she distantly realized that they were true.

"Hagoromo Kitsune-sama?" Kidoomaru questioned hesitantly, taking half a step towards her. "Those Nura are our fated enemies. All of their blood ought to be eliminated. What are you-?"

She did not hear. The world slid sidewards.

The young yokai's golden eyes overlaid with brown, his anger replaced by vulnerability. Rikuo.

Gold eyes. Warm hand. Otoo-sama. Nura Rihan.

Her knees met the floor, her breath left her in a gasp.

 _(-childhischildfatherhischildandmineRihan-sama_ _father_ _)_

Her head was splitting! She screamed.

"Hagoromo Kitsune-sama!"

"Move aside! Move you fools!"

"Minagoroshi Jizou – what are you- ?!"

"Curses, be quiet!" The voice interlaced with Fear brushed against her senses, compelling in its call. The abrput silence beat painfully against her ears. What was this coward doing to her hyakkiyako?

The next time she heard his voice, it was close to her ears, soft and almost cooing. "Hagoromo Kitsune-sama, everything is alright. Those Nura are not to be concerned about. Look at my eye and the pain will leave. The pain will leave and you can hate them again."

She wished to scratch his eye out. But she was unable to move, her headache paralyzing. More images resurfaced from deep well of her mind. A woman. Pitch black and beautiful, grieving and in agony.

 _(-mo-)_

 _("mychildandhis-")_

Thick fingers peeled her eyes open and red filled her vision. The immeasurable agony ebbed.

"That's right. Just look in this eye of mine. Don't be concerned about anything. Relax and you can forget those blackened bonds. Hate, hate, forget and those of the loathed Nura Clan will be eliminated by-"

 _No_ , she thought stubbornly; a childish and defiant persistence lacking entirely the poise of Hagoromo Kitsune but that held on with strength of faith and hope that adult minds no longer had.

(Just today she met her ***. She did not want to forget. Not like she forgot***)

Darkness crept in and swallowed her.

Pain disappeared.

Her eyes opened. Black bed and black curtains. She felt pleasantly rested. Sunlight peeked through the curtains.

When she arrived downstairs livers were waiting for her as well as her loyal followers.

"Hagoromo Kitsune-sama, today we break the last seal," her trusted adviser Minagoroshi Jizou said.

"Let us hope it will be as smooth as the other seven," Kidomaru contributed.

Hagoromo Kitsune chuckled lightly as she slid into her seat. "Whyever would we want that, Kidomaru? It is only when things do not go as planned that they are truly interesting, no?"

Kyokotsu giggled. "You wish to have fun, sister?"

(….sister?….)

"There is nothing wrong with some entertainment. That cursed yakuza Clan must be made to regret after all."

* * *

When the Keikain had through several substitutes and around three corners finally conceded to an agreement with them, Rikuo supposed they didn't have in mind that a yokai clan heir roamed their halls as an invited guest.

Which was of course precisely why Rikuo did it.

Most people would call it rude. Rikuo didn't know why they bothered – he was already inside after all; what sort of yokai would he be if he didn't take full advantage of his job being already halfway done?

Granted, only few could spare the attention from their stressed days to identify the civilian in their midst as a yokai. Those who did pulled the most hilarious faces, though.

In Rikuo's defense there actually was reason he was outside of the space confining his human friends. There were only so many times he could play yokai poker and his ears could only endure so much hearsay yokai stuff before they fell off.

He had just finished a side trip through the kitchen and turned a corner when he ran into what seemed a solid wall.

Rubbing his nose, Rikuo found himself staring at Yura's brother who gave him a look of utmost disdain.

"If it isn't Keikain-onii-san. How do you do?" Rikuo felt a mockingly surprised grin split his face. "Thank you for all your hard work last night."

If looks could kill Rikuo's ashes would resurface on the other side of the world. The animosity radiating off Humorless Big Brother was stronger than what most yokai could produce. Rikuo told him so.

Keikain Ryuji-san's eyebrow _twitched._ " _What. Are. You. Doing. Here."_

Internally Rikuo's devilish glee only rose. On the outside he tried to get his expression back into the realm of politeness because there was some acid water around somewhere close. That big poker-faced onmyoji stood behind Keikain's shoulder as well. "Checking up on my friends," Rikuo informed him cheerfully and more importantly truthfully. But because he just couldn't let it be, he added, "and Yura-san."

Keikain-onii-san's face blackened like thunder. He stepped past Rikuo, just even with his shoulder. "Listen here, yokai filth. What we need is Nenekirimaru only. You're not even its wielder. I'll exterminate you given half the chance."

...Oh? Getting his blood boiling in the Keikain Headquarters was not the smartest thing, but Rikuo couldn't help it even though Fear was out of his reach (mostly). He let the first jab slide off him and leaned in to whisper his own message back. Onmyoji II's fingers sparked.

"You already tried that. Ended with you face first in the ground, if you remember."

It took some effort to back off before things escalated into a fight. Recreating personal space, he gave his best condescending tilt of the head. "But don't worry. I take care of my friends and Yura-san belongs to that whatever you or she like to think."

"She should have destroyed you the first time she laid eyes on you." Keikain returned harshly. But tense was dispersing.

Rikuo recalled that meeting. Mount Nejireme would never be the same. "She tried. It worked no better than your attempt." He waved a casual hand.

Keikain snatched the limb in mid-motion.

He glowered at the item in Rikuo's hand. "...are those wasanbon?"

...er. Flicking his trapped hand, he caught the treat in his other and ate it. "I've got no idea what you are talking about."

Keikain fairly radiated a dark cloud. Rikuo could hear his teeth grind. "We have a passed down saying in the family for if we ever meet Nurarihyon. They should have gone hunting you instead of warning us not to feed you."

Rikuo smiled politely. "Someone up your family tree had a sense of humor - the gene must have skipped you."

The Hidemoto that hung around Yura all the time last night was the type of person who definitely would use the respect his family had for him and tradition to make a joke.

Best thing was, Keikain obviously knew that too. On that note...Rikuo twisted his hand free, giving his best human face – just something like glasses was missing to complete the image. "If you want to complain, I would suggest trying Yura's impressive shikigami. He might know something."

If Keikain weren't smart enough to understand that Rikuo needled him only for his reaction, he would have probably pulled a wonderful grimace.

Rikuo decided to be merciful and got on his way, but not without tossing a two fingered wave to the two who would love incarnate him but couldn't. Besides, he'd be able to irritate Yura's brother some more tonight when they ticked off seals four to two.

After the next corner he took he still made sure to lose himself in the many hallways the Keikain house offered to lose any potential stalkers.

It was on his way back to his friends (which he had to search for – he had got lost), that he heard it.

Two voices, both familiar, and it should not be a shock to hear either of them in this place, but habitually Rikuo still stopped to eavesdrop.

If it had been night-time, if he had been using Fear, he would have never remained undiscovered for his grandfather would have caught in immediately. But it was still day and Fear was out of his reach.

Very careful to not make noise, Rikuo leaned against the wooden wall of the hallway, next to the closed door of a room. All the normal humans in this place would likely not even hear a faint murmur.

Rikuo heard word for word.

"...so it's impossible after all." Nurarihyon's voice. He sounded weary and defeated in a way Rikuo had never heard before and breath faltered in his throat. Rikuo's ears perked.

Hidemoto the 13th's voice hummed. "Afraid so. Which means of course that some technique other than reincarnation must have been used."

Rikuo's grandfather sighed. "And? You've got an idea. Spit it out."

An amused chuckle. "Say, Nura-chan. What do you think a child is? Or more specifically, where does a child start?"

A pause. Rikuo's heart started to pound for some reason.

Hidemoto continued, tone becoming like a teacher's. "With the moment of their birth? With the moment of confirmed pregnancy? With conception? With the wish for a child? None of them are wrong, which makes all of them right. Keep in mind that this has nothing to do with your grandson. The case we are talking about is an 'idea' specific to a child of her-and-him. The idea of a child starts – gender, appearance and so forth aside – with wanting one. The strength of thought and desires creates a place in the realm of immaterial - lets call it a potential child's base. Your son and this yokai woman were not able to conceive one. What becomes of that base, do you think? The woman died, what became of it?"

It took Nurarihyon a long moments to reply. "Something that didn't exist ceased to exist. ...and you wonder why humans think you onmyoji mad."

Hitemoto clicked his tongue. "It died, Nura-chan. If that wish for a child was strong enough that in thought it already existed – and keep in mind that it doesn't matter _when_ that wish was strong enough from both of them – then at some point it must have 'died'. Something that didn't 'live' can still 'cease' enough to arrive in the next world. If Yamabuki Otome-chan carried thoughts of it down with her, then even more so."

When Nurarihyon said nothing, Hidemoto continued breezily. "Other world being what it is, given what Tsuchigumo mentioned...the Nue would have the sufficient knowledge to use something that is little more than a life's wish and life's regret. In a world of the dead, that is."

"Ridiculous. What you are getting at is impossible. Hagoromo Kitsune needs a human host, you said so yourself." Rikuo's grandfather scoffed.

"And yet, is your grandson not so very much human that even my dear Yura-chan's ofudas can't hurt him?"

Silence.

"Wakana-san is human. He's three-quarters." Nurariyhon's voice no longer was so sure. Rikuo's heart was stuck in his throat.

"Yamabuki Otome-chan was a human first too, wasn't she." Hidemoto said. Rikuo wasn't sure he understood what they were talking about correctly, but that sentence still hit him with the force of a sledgehammer. "You'd be surprised how little difference there is in hell between 'was' and 'is'."

"...she was," Rikuo's grandfather said, sounding pained. "...then...that girl..."

"I wouldn't know," Hidemoto's voice stated easily, but still conveying how serious he was. "Thousand years in hell. Who knows what else he might come up with. But it is a possibility, yes."

Shuffling of clothes, rustling of old paper. Movement of a body. "I guess I'll go have a look. Can't say I've greeted the old fox yet, after all. At this point I'm guessing she'll be at Nijou Castle. Don't tell Rihan anything."

The door was slid open.

Rikuo stood frozen. His grandfather's eyes widened, seeing him there.

Hidemoto, cleaning up scrolls of paper and diagrams, glanced over and did a double take. "Oh my," he mused.

* * *

TBC


	14. detours and family crises

Act III

* * *

detours and family crises and negotiations

* * *

Rikuo-sama was fuming.

Tsurara had no idea what had upset him so before he had returned from his stroll through Keikain Headquarters, but ire _still_ had not left him. Even after a night of mischief and fighting Kyoto yokai.

It seemed to only have agitated him more, in fact.

Glancing at her master nervously as he swung out the grime from his blade, Tsurara was very aware that no one, utterly no one had more knowledge as to the origins of the Young Master's mood.

Over the course of the night, she had more than once caught Rihan-sama and his closest put their heads together and whisper with their Lord, yet everyone continued to be baffled.

All seals except the final one reinstated, the Sokoku-ji temple grounds so recently a battlefield that dust was still settling, the night coming to a close and yet Rikuo-sama had not smiled once.

He was even disinterested tonight in irritating the onmyoji!

Tsurara nibbled her lip in worry as Rikuo-sama started to leave without any flair, without waiting for the Parade.

For once she was on the same wavelength with the Tonoo folk, exchanging perplexed glances.

"What crawled up his ass and died," Awashima wondered, swinging her weapon over her shoulder.

"You'd think they insulted his mother, he was so pissed." Amezo added, rubbing his chin.

"If someone had insulted Wakana-sama they'd be a bloody corpse now." Gozumaru said flatly. "And we'd tearing whatever the Nidaime left to shreds."

"It is peculiar," Tsurara's fellow yukionna Reira added, "that gossip for once seems to fall short. What could have enraged him so yet none of us have heard of it." Her brows were furrowed faintly in worry, her eyes still in the direction Rikuo-sama disappeared in.

The sickle weasel Itaku scoffed. "That wasn't angry. He was 'angry' with Tsuchigumo. This is what he was like when he first came to Tonoo and he's trying to cover it up with anger." He sheathed his weapons and flicked some blood out of strands of hair. "Leave him. If he can't sort it out on his own then it becomes business to worry about."

Awashima clicked her tongue, but they all seemed to agree that Itaku had a point.

Tsurara didn't. "Rikuo-sama shouldn't have to be alone. I'll go look for him."

"Leave it," repeated the weasel. As if Tsurara would listen to him! She bowed to Rihan-sama and separated from the parade.

Itaku made an irritated noise. "He'll never grow up with overprotective aids around like that."

"...I don't like you Tonoo guys, but you sure hit the nail on the head," Gozumaru's comment still reached Tsurara's ears. He sounded surprised.

 _Those uncivilized folk_ , Tsurara grumbled in her head, _only concerned with what Rikuo-sama should become and not what he is._

Rikuo-sama was upset. It was wrong to leave him alone at a time like this, never mind the folly of the Young Master being in Kyoto without guards.

Only after she had left the others well behind and was on her own on Kyoto's streets that it occurred to Tsurara she had no idea where to find Rikuo-sama.

She dearly hoped he had headed back to Takarabune, but all her years of serving Rikuo-sama told her differently.

In fact, if she were to trust her instincts….

Tsurara turned so that her gaze was able to rest on the ominous whirl of black energy that spun in the air over Nijou Castle.

She swallowed.

Rikuo-sama had not seemed to be thinking clearly. He definitely would.

Taking to the rooftops and from there to the air, Tsurara set her focus on Kyoto's center.

Of course she did not see Rikuo-sama anywhere but she had hope that as she was specifically looking for him and that so long as he was not explicitly hiding that she might find him.

The moon sunk deeper and deeper behind the clouds as Tsurara circled the castle at a safe distance, looking for Rikuo-sama in places giving particular good view.

Rikuo-sama was not to be found.

The well-lit castle fairly mocked her. Hands balling into fists, Tsurara tired not to think of the horrors that may befall the Young Master should he be caught in that place.

Her feet carried her closer before she had even made the conscious decision.

Out of nothing, something appeared in front of her shoulders before she could make it too far. The blizzard didn't make it past her lips as she recognized Rikuo-sama's sheathed blade. "Young Master!"

He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, putting a finger to his lips in a signal for silence. The majority of his attention was on the castle.

Tsurara studied her young lord. He didn't seem worse for the wear, but emotional energy still clung to his frame. His expression was dark and unreadable.

Despite her best intentions of supporting him Tsurara didn't know what to say, but she hoped her presence was able to assure Rikuo-sama that he did not have to be alone with his troubled mind.

Rikuo-sama's body shifted; from set tension to sudden _alert_.

His stare was narrowed suspiciously.

They were too far way to see windows as more than dots. The commotion disturbing the night was nonetheless immediately recognizable. Fear stirred, teasing her senses first.

Rikuo-sama sucked in a sharp, startled breath. "Wha-"

An outer wall seemed to be broken through, a body barely visible in the cloud of dust before it fell into the moat.

Rikuo-sama cursed. He grasped her wrist and she felt his Fear stretch to disappear them both. But instead of retreating, Rikuo-sama dropped dropped out of the air and dashed towards the castle.

The water was still rippling when they arrived. Rikuo-sama's gaze darted around, looking, searching…

"Rikuo-sama," Tsurara warned, nervously spying at the yokai staring down from the castle. If they became aware of them.

Rikuo-sama didn't appear to hear her. His sandaled feet carried him along the water, focus determined on something. Tsurara was too busy keep her eyes on the closest threats that Rikuo-sama just lead them past as though they didn't exist.

Only when Rikuo-sama waved a hands through the air, tangling tendrils of Fear on them that Tsurara understood. That Fear was familiar. _Very_ familiar.

The Shodaime became visible as his and Rikuo-sama's illusions melted together.

Tsurara gasped.

Wet. Blood.

It had been the First who had caused the disturbance! _He_ had been _caught_! And _hurt!_

"Rikuo-sama!" Karasu Tengu, who Tsurara had not noticed until that moment exclaimed in surprised relief. "What are you doing here?! The Shodaime has been injured! We must immediately take him back to the ship!"

Tsurara knelt by the First Lord's side, helping him into an upright position. As she touched his back, her hand came in contact with warm blood.

The emotion that had been causing such unrest within Rikuo seemed to spill over as he aided his grandfather.

"And?" He demanded, worried but far, far more anxious about something. _Afraid_ almost. "What is it?"

The Shodaime's breath came in painful gasps. It wasn't his wounds that he seemed most concerned with, though, expression thoroughly distant.

"Oi, Old Man." The Young Master nudged the First none too gently as he picked him up to carry on his back.

"Rikuo-sama," Karasu Tengu scolded. "The First is-"

"Rihan will have to be informed," Nurarihyon-sama got out, voice grating as they left the cover of trees around the castle and started walking on air.

Rikuo-sama seemed to be approaching a state of shock. His skin was close to the shade of bleached paper, the control over his Fear became rougher, pupils small. "So..." His voice choked off after only the first word.

But the Shodaime shook his head. "I was able to see why she caught Rihan aback more than once. But it's still only a _possibility_ , Rikuo. Don't let it consume you."

Rikuo-sama laughed harshly without any amusement whatsoever. "A _possibility_ that got _you_ stabbed too. It's obviously more possible than not at this point!"

Karasu Tengu and Tsurara exchanged completely baffled looked. What were they talking about?

"Are you possibly discussing the reason why the Shodaime felt the need to sneak into a stronghold of a yokai that almost killed him four hundred years ago, never mind now? What could possibly be so important that it could not wait until the castle is stormed and the enemy defeated?" Karasu Tengu inquired pressingly and highly disapproving.

Rikuo-sama let out a sound that could not be called a laugh, a scoff or even sane. "I don't know, how about determining if Harogomo Kitsune's host is my magically created half-sister? Might be good to know before Dad runs Nenekirimaru through her."

"Rikuo," the Shodaime reprimanded.

From a distance.

From a distance because Tsurara had lost her concentration in shock and was free-falling. Together with Karasu Tengu whose eyes were almost the size of his head.

 _ **WHAT?!**_

* * *

"Oh _my_ ," Hidemoto exclaimed with far too much delight. "Would you look at that. They sure have got style."

Yura felt her eye twitch. They _had_ to be kidding.

But no – the people calling the shots here are the kind who wait in onmyoji's homes after dark and who steal food right under the nose of the most powerful exorcist of the time – they weren't kidding.

In daylight the Nura Clan's local base appeared easily like an old, average, two masted ship that took up half of the river (without counting the smaller vessels).

When Yura looked closer, mist of dark energy was seeping out of it, polluting air and water. The banner of the Nura Clan waved on flags in the wind. Yokai few over them, keeping up security and patrol. Yokai disguised as humans stood guard from the shore. More than one water yokai kept the ships safe from below.

It was _loud._

Were they partying or what?

"Hey Yura! Hidemoto!" Nura-kun's voice called from the ship, and her eyes found him just coming towards her from the ramp of the biggest of his Clan's ships. "Thanks for coming. I know you need to rest, but it's really important," he told her.

"Always my pleasure, Rikuo-chan." Hidemoto assured him, gleefully grinning.

She sniffed. "It had better be. And don't think I'm here because you called! Hidemoto just wouldn't shut up otherwise."

Nura-kun didn't grin or smirk or make fun of her in any way, instead just folding his hands into the sleeves of his kimono. "Sorry." He merely said, looking it. He gestured at the demonic ship behind him overflowing with yokai and their energies. "Want to come up? Mom would never let me hear the end of it if I was a bad host while we're making use of your services."

Yura would love to turn him down. It gave her the creeps to even think about setting foot on that ship. But as if last night's behaviour hadn't been enough, he was still obviously off his usual game. That changed the rules.

Her friend needed her help.

"If any of your guys play a prank on me, I'll exterminate them," she warned.

Nura-kun smiled."Don't worry," he said as he lead the way up the ramp, seeing to her steps like a gentleman would. "After the way you blew those Kyoto yokai away last night, you've so thoroughly terrified the whole lot of them they'll be falling of their feet to stay out of your way."

"What a reputation," complimented her shikigami, obviously making fun of her.

Yura ignored him and decided to enjoy the very human interaction with Nura-kun as long as it lasted. "Good," she huffed. "I don't want anything to do with yokai."

Her internal eye pictured Nura-kun smirking and agreeing sarcastically, while pointedly glancing around.

He didn't do any such thing, instead leading her into the inner parts of the ship, focus obviously somewhere else.

"Hidemoto only said that it had something to do with Harogomo Kitsune's host body," Yura said suspiciously. Nura-kun flinched. _He_. Flinched. Her eyes narrowed. " _What_ the hell is wrong?"

Nura-kun's shoulders sagged. Only a bit. But the effect it had was so startling, Yura wondered how she had not noticed the heavy air around him before.

Everything about him was tense, but he still tried for a light shake of his head. "Don't worry about it, Yura. It might be nothing."

"Or it might be something," she kept digging, even more suspicious.

"What do you hope for, Rikuo-chan?" Hidemoto wanted to know. His tone was light but his eyes were sharp. "That it is something? Or nothing? I imagine there are many changes coming."

Nura-kun turned his head to have the ghost be the center of his vision. The way he studied Hidemoto was more than a bit cold (a first towards Hidemoto). "What do _you_ think I'm thinking about? That I'm internally celebrating? Or perhaps plotting murder?" He sneered, the expression startling on his human face. "Did you lose all your humanity when you lost your body?"

Turning his head straight ahead he gave off an air of superiority of the likes Yura had not seen him project since his war with the Shikoku yokai.

 _What_ was going on?

"Ah, sorry, my bad, Rikuo-chan. I didn't mean to offend," Hidemoto placated, gesturing with his hands. "Just curious. It must have crossed your mind. What to do if, how did you say, 'it is something'?"

Nura-kun's sandals slapped against the planks. "that ut has not left my mind might be more appropriate," he said, all fight going out of him, leaving behind just an exhausted boy of twelve.

Yura had enough. "Someone tell me what this is about right _now._ Or I'm banishing you -" she pointed at Hidemoto - "and walking straight back out of this damn ship." She snapped, glowering.

Nura-kun sighed, coming to a stop. "You'll find out soon enough," he said. His hand resting on a door he took a deep breath before sliding it open. "I have brought Keikain Yura. Hidemoto 13th is present."

Conversation over.

Nura-kun waited for her to step into the room. A room clouded with yoki. Immediately she felt the drain it took to keep Hidemoto present.

Four yokai other than the Nurarihyons sat semi-officially at a wide, low table obviously designed for more people. Tea steamed.

"Oh my, Nura-chan. Look at you. You got hurt." Hidemoto seemed to have no issues whatsoever stepping among yokai, all but skipping over to tease The Nurarihyon.

Nura-kun's grandfather scoffed, "at least I'm not dead, unlike someone," while Nura-san smiled, ignored the old men and waved at kindly at Yura. "Welcome. Sorry to bother you, I know you must be busy. Feel free to have some of my lot show you to a room where you can rest."

Yura crossed her arms, already frayed nerves straining to keep a hold of her temper. It was easy to give the Lord of Pandemonium a flat, narrow stare if only because of his resemblance to Nura-kun. "I'm not at your beck and call, yokai. Don't think you can summon me just like that and then not tell me anything." She grit out. "What do you need Hidemoto for? What does it have to do with Harogomo Kitsune?"

Silence. The Fear that had previously ignoring her became poisonous. Inhuman minds focused the attention on her, eyes suddenly gaining predatory edges.

Petty yokai.

"Wow, Yura-chan," Hidemoto murmured, this time not mocking.

Nurarihyon the Second merely gave her one intense look before his attention shifted behind her shoulder.

Nura-kun stepped next to her. "Nura affair or not, Yura is the one who uses Hagun. She'll have to know something sooner or later. Unless we want her to shoot something we don't actually want her to shoot. And she is right – some of it is her right to know."

The yokai weren't pleased.

Yura wasn't either. From ten brothers she was down to two (or three), her grandfather was injured and unable to fight. Her Clan was devastated, not even a fifth of their numbers remaining. Her school friend was a junior yokai lord. She was spending more time in yokais' presence not shooting than she was upholding her honour as an onmyoji. Her ancestor was treating everything as a game when he wasn't deadly serious. She hadn't had more than four hours sleep in the last seventy eight hours. And now those dubious yokai allies that they needed to save Kyoto had to have some sort of crisis.

They had the nerve to _debate_ at a time like this! When the end of the world might be coming if Harogomo Kitsune gave birth to a child who _wasn't_ the onmyoji paragon he was always said to be!

Nura-san exchanged silent words with his son before he waved a hand dismissively. The animosity subsided. "Have a seat if you want, Yura-chan. Just sitting in might give you nightmares, though," he said tiredly.

He looked even worse than Nura-kun, Yura noticed. She clenched her jaw.

The Nurarihyons who always overflowed with superiority, arrogance and ease, all of them frazzled to the edges. How did the enemy manage _that?_

Nura-kun slumped down next to his grandfather. One of those yokai Yura saw frequently near the front of the hyakkiyako, a woman with long hair, immediately set a cup of tea for him. Together with a small bottle of sake.

...What?

Before Yura's disbelieving eyes, Nura-kun mixed some into his tea and took a sip. She slid onto the nearest cushion that left a couple of seats open between her and the nearest yokai, was also offered tea but no sake. The yokai woman gave her a hard, meaningful stare.

Yura didn't need her to make her aware of how explosive this mess was. Ignoring it or not, anxiety had been twisting her insides into enough knots. Knots that were very different from the sort she could do something with – like shooting yokai, destroying evil.

"Now that we're all here," an older yokai began, long hair falling over one eye, "we must evaluate an issue for its verity. We'll start by recounting all events relating to the problem.

"First we have the confirmed passing of Yamabuki Otome, the Nidaime's wife, more than one hundred fifty years ago. Second, a girl first seen eight years ago in an attempt on the Nidaime's life and now confirmed to host Hagoromo Kitsune whose appearance is near identical to Otome-sama. Something which should be impossible under the given circumstances. Notable at that time is her form of address in regard to both the Second Head and Third Heir as well as the knowledge of a particular piece of information concerning the relationship of the Nidaime and Yamabuki Otome-sama. For the latter as well as the weapon used in the attempt a connection can be drawn to the Hyaku Monogatari Clan. Thirdly of importance is the not unknown grudge the Hyaku Monogatari bears towards the Nidaime and the question of how it is involved with Hagoromo Kitsune as a Clan member has been sighted at her side, which creates further questions about the affair. Furthermore-"

"Enough."

Stilling, the yokai turned his head. "Nidaime?"

Nura-kun's father managed to appear bored even though he was not able to mask the tension his body radiated. "We already know all those things, Gyuki. No need to deal with details at this time. What I need to know before we attack Nijo Castle are three things." Golden eyes slid over Yura and settled with piercing intensity on Hidemoto. Yura's blood chilled, realizing the yokai was __angry__ _._ "Can a child that was not born be created? How can we determine if Hagoromo Kitsune's host is a...daughter of mine that someone created? Lastly, if that is so, how do we get the fox out of her?"

...

...what.

Hidemoto smiled, razor sharp. Suddenly it was obvious why he was regarded in the highest respect even though he behaved like a silly ghost. "Those are some interesting questions. The first answer I'm willing to give is that yes, though no sane onmyoji would do it – be _able_ do it -. Given enough black arts, power and access to certain things it is not impossible."

 _Thump_. It was as though the very air had turned to stone; impossible to be breathed, cold, hard and unmoved. A good half of the yokai present still managed to hiss or swear quietly. Nura-kun, all human in appearance, stared woodenly into his tea cup which his fingers were wound around tightly.

"I am wondering, though," Hidemoto continued, "if - and I mean IF - this girl were who she might be - will the Nura Clan still fight the fox? Or are you made powerless by her presence?"

Yura's brain stumbled to catch up. What was he talking about? What were they talking about? What was Hidemoto implying? Was he -? Her swallowed tongue made no sign of reappearance. Her mind was blank.

The yokais' presences were near malicious. Yura had never sensed malevolence so clearly without blood flying.

Nura-kun snorted, breaking the building tension.

"For someone so comfortable around yokai, you don't get our society as well as you think you do," he said flatly. The atmosphere of the room seemed to bypass him entirely as he played with the tea still left in his cup. Though human still his eyes glowed faintly, his entire demeanor was that of someone who could be surprised by nothing anymore. He didn't even bother rising his gaze from his cup. "We are yokai. Don't think us all soft and indecisive like humans."

"Hidemoto." Nura-kun's grandfather picked up the line when his grandson was not willing to elaborate. He didn't seem remotely like a harmless old man anymore. Power and authority leaked in the air from him. "Don't take our pride lightly."

Pulling a bit back on the edge, Hidemoto tilted his head. "Pride?"

None of the Nurarihoyns thought it necessary to explain, each more concerned with their own thoughts. One of the retainers - the Gyuki demon - eventually decided to get the session move forward. His expression was blank and voice monotone as he explained.

"Is this child of the noble blood of Nurarihyon, our honour will be sullied by harming her. Do we not, it will be that fact alone bringing us to our knees. Thus our pride demands one action and one action only. We will be paid with blood for the slight." He folded his hands slowly on the table, blood red eye surveying the present people. "Shares this child no blood, it is still a strike at the very heart of the Clan. It has never been in question, onmyoji, that the coming night will be dyed red."

"The only thing in question is whose blood will be spilled," completed Nurarihyon, sharp as a blade.

Ice ran cold fingers down Yura's spine.

"Oh well." Hidemoto said, smiling brightly. "That's alright then. Do forgive me for my ignorance. Back on topic, I can't say I know a hundred percent sure method of determining the girl's status. There are some ways of revealing if someone is human or not, however with Hagoromo Kitsune in that body….well. I am very interested though – there must have been something, Nura-chan, that prompted you come to me. Something that must have made you _suspicious_."

The expressions of Nurarihyon the First and the Second twitched minutely. Nura-kun finally tore his gaze away from his tea, settling it with intense suspicion on his father.

Who's lips thinned. "I don't see how that is relevant."

"No?" Hidemoto pulled a shoulder up in an elegant half-shrug. "It's not necessary to know, but isn't it always said that a parent's instincts can't be tricked?"

Silence. Dead heavy and growing more and more uncomfortable with every moment that the implications weren't confirmed or denied.

Nura-kun was staring fixed at his father, eyes narrowing more and more while the neckless yokai and the guyki demon exchanged tight glances that nonetheless were their own conversation.

Nurarihyon's robes rustled as he pulled a long, thin object out of them. With a tiny flame from his fingertip, he ignited a pipe and puffed smoke into the already miasma polluted air.

"She reminded me of someone," he said leisurely. Gold eyes gleamed not in hate or anger but in thought. "She reminded me of someone she shouldn't remind me of were a connection or resemblance to Otome the only thing we needed to worry about."

Yura regretted insisting on being present for this talk. Her insides squirmed. It was awkward. This was Nura-kun's _family_ issues. Not yokai stuff. Like how she didn't want to discuss her parents' relationship with him or couldn't stand him see baby pictures of her. Or something.

 _None of her business_. That they had hardly put up a fight when she had insisted only added another lead weight to how _much they didn't care right now_.

 _Nura-kun might have a **sister.**_

Who would be _Hagoromo Kitsune_ at the moment.

Yura felt sick.

"How do we get Hrgoromo Kitsune out?"

All eyes flashed to her. The words had left her without her permission but she didn't want to take them back. Her fists balled and she felt herself getting angry. _Damn_ those yokai!

(If _she_ did – no wonder Nura-kun had been in such a _foul_ mood.)

"Yes, how. That's the problem, isn't it?" Nura-kun tossed back the rest of his tea and turned the cup upside down, pushing it to the center of the table. He tapped the porcelain with the tip of a finger impatiently. "How?"

Hidemoto hummed. "Good question. Rikuo-chan, if I may ask, you were born human, no? What did it take for you to awaken as a yokai?" Hidemoto rested his head in a hand, staring mysteriously.

Nura-kun gave the dead onmyoji a contemplating look, but in the end shrugged. "I was six. The old man didn't want to let me go out with the parade with them so I decided to lead the guys out without asking while his back was turned. Just happened."

Chuckles were hidden behind Hidemoto's long sleeves with very little care. "Oh my." But as quick as lightening he became serious again. "That's the key. It's only a theory, but it is the one with the highest chance of success. Hagoromo Kitsune's host must be human. The moment she stops, the fox will lose her hold." His sharp sight skimmed over everyone present. "Convincing her that her vessel is only mostly human might be enough to make her vulnerable to exorcism, but that's less sure. The moment she's out however..."

"She's dead." Nura-kun stated plainly.

"Sealed please," Hidemoto suggested.

"The difference is negligible." Nurarihyon the Second spoke up. From his tone alone it was impossible to tell what he thought. His face on the other hand… "The fox is a problem but she isn't the one behind it all."

Nurarihyon the First nodded. "She already has a sword among her relics – she hardly needs a cursed one, though she'd probably be all for a blade that tasted three generations of Nurarihyon blood." His grumbling was irritated.

"Excuse me?" Hidemoto straightened alarmed while Nura-kun rolled his eyes, annoyed.

"Let me guess. The Mao's Hammer turned up in the laughing eyeball's hands. So that's why that wound hit you so hard. The sword ate your Fear, gramps."

Nurarihyon grunted darkly.

"So it seems, Rikuo-sama," the gyuki demon confirmed. "Perhaps it is wise to destroy the blade the next time we get the chance."

"Wait wait wait." Hidemoto interrupted, waving his arms. His eyes were wide. "Can you repeat that? What cursed sword? There is a _cursed sword_ that was touched by _three generations_?" For the first time he seemed truly unsettled. And unimpressed with the lack of care by his audience. "I don't think you get the significance of that."

* * *

TBC


	15. of responsibilities and resolves

Act III

* * *

of responsibilities and resolves

* * *

The raid on Nijo Castle was anything but a surprise. That it would come to battle at that place had been clear for both (all three) sides. It was the timing that was the issue. The onmyoji of course would prefer to attack during daytime. The Clan didn't. And as the onmyoji didn't dare to make the move alone...

In regards to the date...well, no one had ever accused Nurarihyon of being patient.

Why wait after all? For what?

Just the mere thought of taking another day as some of their retainers had suggested was infuriating.

All the time Rikuo's emotions flickered between fury and exhaustion, and he was _tired_ of it.

It would end tonight. Fool those who would stand in his way.

Damn the old man.

Damn the fox. Damn the Hayku Monogatari. Damn the Nue.

Or who _ever_. Damn them _all._

(Sister. Not just a curve-ball off chance that had to be investigated, but might actually – might probably be really – a sister. What the hell?)

(How was he supposed to deal with _that_?)

The hyakkiyako was fired up, mist all but solid around them, at his feet, at his command.

Nijo Castle's front gate didn't even stand up to his glare, creaking with sudden age and falling of the hinges.

Hunger for violence pumped in his yokai blood, but he was probably the only one in the parade whose feelings were overshadowed by stark anger.

His grin of his lips was nasty and lacking the usual ease. "Go wild everyone! Show them why we are the most feared yokai Clan!"

The majority of his followers split up, roaring and screaming to pick fights with the outer yokai guards. No doubt they would be distracting and chaotic enough that the question of _where was Nura Rihan_ did not occur to them and thus would not think to guard their general rather than meeting the Nura hyakkiyako with all their strength before they could bother said general.

Rikuo didn't pay those fights much attention, his sight on the gate behind the second moat. Unlike the first gate, there were no guards visible. He sensed them, though.

His sandals scrapped over the ground, then over the wooden planks of the bridge. Trying to trick a nurarihyon with illusions. Morons.

He drew his sword, gathered Fear around it and cut through.

A pair of yokai guards became visible. A disproportioned duo. The smaller one started talking.

"Nurarihyon's grandson. You are angry. You want to crush us. Hagoromo Kitsune _– Hagoromo Kitsune-sama may be_ _ **what**_ _?!"_

Itaku pulled out his sickles. Rikuo didn't even bother slowing his pace.

Itaku shot forward, blades too sharp for even the air to whistle. He still missed.

Rikuo stopped and narrowed his eyes.

"What you are going to do next, I already know. I can read it like a book," the smaller of the yokai pronounced. He was sweating and shooting unsettled looks in Rikuo's direction. Reading his mind? Let the feeling of a world tearing down accompany him to his grave.

Itaku clicked his tongue, more irritated than impressed.

Moving his fingers as though pulling the strings on a puppet, the yokai proceeded to announce Itaku's thoughts. "'Annoying ability. If he can read my next move I'll have to attack in a way they can't dodge. Speed or size. Size. Attack everything –' Eh _? Eh?!"_

Itaku's wind blades tore them to shreds, obliterated the second gate and broke the bridge to a meter in front of Rikuo's feet.

Aotabo batted flying debris aside before Rikuo had to move. "Damn Toono folk, strong they may be, can't they watch who they bother with their fights?"

"The temple," Yura muttered dazedly, trying to keep herself separate from the parade she was sucked into but failing mostly due to lack of space. "Our piece of history and holy ground…"

Mist congregated as Rikuo set a foot where the bride used to be, carrying him into the building.

"Those had better not have been some of the better kyoto yokai." Awashima grumbled. "Hardly worth noticing."

The hallway they entered was obscured by foreign Fear.

Rikuo drew his sword. "The big shots have to have noticed by now that the onmoyji skirmishing with them north are just the distraction. They'll come here now."

Onmoyji distracted for them and they distracted for the Second.

Way too bothersome a strategy. It was irritating all by itself. But – but it had to be done, so long as there was a _chance_ …

Gritting his teeth, Rikuo marched forward, making no attempts at masking his presence. Let them come. Let them all come.

"Rikuo-sama," Kurotabo spoke up, caution in his voice. Moments later they emerged in a large hall, easily big enough to host a hundred people.

They were expected.

As a rule of thumb, it was generally said that yokai capable of taking human form were to be placed high in the power ranking system. Jackpot.

An old man, a young man with half his face covered by wood, a middle aged man, an old man with a long nose, and someone with white hair who looked to be barely past his teen years. If those were like division leaders then the yokai in front of them were the respective subordinates.

Minagoroshi Jizou was absent. As was the giant skeleton. No matter.

The Nura Clan pooled into the hall, balancing the numbers.

"Rikuo-sama," Mezumaru said quietly. "The yokai on the far right is Tengu of Mount Kurama, a longtime rival of Gyuki-sama's and supposedly Hagoromo Kitsune's right hand man."

Yet he was here and not guarding their master. Casually resting his blade against his shoulder, hand tugged inside his yukata, Rikuo gave them a once over. "I don't care who you are. Move aside or be destroyed."

The old man in a suit was the first to respond, pulling his sword from its sheath. "Loathsome Nurarihyon. Pity those who you lead away from the glory of Nue's rebirth. If you are a yokai you too should rejoice the arrival of the herald who will lead us to an age of darkness."

Rikuo snorted in contempt. "I will never bow to anyone, be they legendary onmoyji-yokai or not. And certainly not some guy who doesn't even have the dignity to accept his death a thousand years after the fact."

Rikuo's ability to grate on people's nerves was as good as always as the yokai's dignified expression twitched. Unlike his fellows however he at least managed to not make it obvious how much Rikuo got to them.

"The only reason you dare speak so arrogantly, boy, is because you are young and ignorant of true power." He readied stance to attack. "Your damned bloodline should have been erased four hundred years ago."

A nasty smile came automatically even as he sensed his hyakkiyako readying. "You _tried._ And _failed_."

Battle exploded. Rikuo found himself fending off the blade of the old yokai whose name Rikuo didn't even know. Near him, he felt Tsurara's ice freeze the air and the loud crash as Aotabo's fists crushed something. Kurotabo's blades sliced through air and Itaku, Awashima, Reira and the other guys from Toono met the half wood yokai. Gozu and Mezu were trying their hand at the Tengu.

Only Shoei wasn't fighting. Rikuo felt his eyes on him.

Putting power behind the crossed blades, Rikuo pushed the oni-yokai back. He did _not need_ to be worried about!

"My name is Kidomaru, Lady Hagoromo Kitsune's loyal follower since one thousand years ago. Give me your name, Grandson of our loathed nemesis. For your skill you deserve at least that." The grotesque features of an oni's face broke through as though eating the human appearance. Red eyes glowed.

Rikuo ignored the fine scratches littering his skin. That guy was _fast_. "Nura Rikuo, Young Master of the Nura Clan." Sword parallel to the ground, tip pointed at the enemy, Rikuo considered.

The oni was faster than Rikuo, as well as capable of slicing through Rikuo's Fear. In terms of swordsmanship, the other yokai had some thousand years plus experience on him.

Heated blood rushed through his body, for a moment lifting the oppressive uncertainty that ate at him.

This was a challenge - a _fight_. A fight that Rikuo would not be able to win unless he took it seriously – unless he banished everything else from his mind.

 _Thump._

Fun.

Invoking Kyoka Suigetsu, Rikuo left an afterimage behind. If he completely vanished..., well it didn't take a genius to figure out that there was Fear to be but, but so long the invoke itself remained unnoticed most yokai didn't know a Nurarihyon had made their move until they were defeated.

The trick was to _notice_.

Kidomaru did, brushing the illusion aside and catching Rikuo's blade on his with little effort. That's fine. As Rikuo had already demonstrated Kyoka Suigetsu's abilities on a grand scale at the second temple, he had expected it.

Had counted on it, gripping his sword with merely one hand. Even had the attack struck true, he would not have done much damage like that.

The entire point was his second hand. Kidomaru's eyes widened as Rikuo's illusion scattered and his sight fell on the flat, round cup in his left.

In midair, feet still not touching the ground, all his weight pressed down on the crossing blades, Rikuo breathed over sake.

Ripples curled the surface. In an instant sparks ignited to a roaring blaze of blue flames, devouring everything they touched.

In his attempt to put distance between them, Kidomaru's sword strike pushed him back. His feet skirted over the ground. His right hand tingled, wrist aching from the power of the slash.

Primary sword arm. Not good.

But the gambit had worked.

Ordinarily, Ougi Meikyo Shisui Sakura burned until dawn and could not be extinguished. Things like that blurred of course when the opponent was strong, however it was still a dangerous technique. The only natural skill of a Nurarihyon that was _purely offensive_.

Kidomaru emerged from the flames singed and with a darkly murderous expression that definitely did no longer play at I-am-a-wise-elder-listen-to-me-amusing-youngster.

Rikuo _smirked_.

Rage flickered through the oni's Fear, which gathered in a visible shroud. Rikuo shifted to a defensive stance.

Instead of attacking him however, Kidomaru rammed his blade into the floor.

The world _shifted_.

Castle fading into nothingness, Rikuo found himself in a world of pure white. No shadows and no light, no way of telling distances. The disorienting effect was staggering, even with the paint-brush drawn gate rising in front of him.

Rikuo had never been in one before, but he knew they existed – spaces created by age and Fear.

Transportable home turf.

Shit.

"Rikuo-sama," Shoei said tensely, a world of meaning in that one word as he stepped beside him. Shoei was the only one also dragged into this separate reality, and evidently was no longer willing to just let Rikuo act. His fist closed tightly on the hilt of his massive sword.

"I'm fine," Rikuo said through gritted teeth. "Stand back." Battling in this place, under these conditions…Rikuo tasted blood in his mouth. His world narrowed down. Even in a situation like this, cut off from support and in enemy space – he would _not falter_.

A hand settled on his shoulder, holding him back. "Wait."

"What?" Rikuo very nearly snapped.

Shoei lowered his head so that he could speak closely in Rikuo's ear, eyes never leaving the dangerous, _dangerous_ foe. "Look, I don't know what's eating at you, but you're forgetting yourself."

Rikuo stiffened. A breath was half sucked in -

Shoei's grip tightened. "I've known you since we were kids and if you can't tell me, then I get that. But, Rikuo, you're not _just_ anyone. You are the one who will _lead_ us – the next generation. We have your back Rikuo." His voice was intent and heavy. "Don't you know that it hurts if you don't depend on us when you're hurting?"

Rikuo's muscles unwound, no longer ready to launch.

If he didn't –

But Rikuo relied on them. Or did he?

…he did, but only sometimes. Accomplishing things by himself, pushing himself, getting stronger, testing how far he could go – Rikuo _liked_ doing that. If he got help, the point would be entirely missed. Which was why he disliked his stifling security on most days, why he loved Toono.

But sometimes, he needed help. He _knew_ that. He couldn't do everything by himself; he was only one person.

Yet…

He wasn't using them as they wished.

Not since – he couldn't. He didn't want to. "I understand that," Rikuo told him lowly, eyes also on their foe and his subordinates. "But please put up with my selfishness a bit longer. Once the Fox is defeated…"

But Shoei only shook his head. "I know. Or I guessed. Everyone does, Rikuo. And we don't mind giving you the space you need for as long as you need it." A brief pause. "But don't forget to be aware of your importance. We follow _you_ , and will follow _no one_ else." The hanyo looked at the enemies, the lesser of which didn't dare attack, and the leader of which thought it below his dignity to when they already were on his grounds. "Here, in this situation, I'm asking you. Don't take risks. If something were to happen..."

There were half a dozen things Rikuo could say to that. Half a dozen things he _wanted_ to say the most polite of which was _I won't lose_. He bit his tongue.

Rikuo was confident in his ability to win. Of course he was. But there was always more to take into account. He was the Young Master, while his father was otherwise engaged the hyakkiyako was _his_ , Shoei _asked_ him – not ordered, not advised, not requested. Asked. From friend to friend.

…had he worried Shoei (everyone) so much that he felt _asking_ (pleading) was the only way to reach him?

Had he been that inattentive and selfish that he hadn't even noticed the unhappiness he caused?

Guilt stirred. (The weight he had managed to forget in the heat of battle was back. But. _Fine_.)

"What would you have me do?" Rikuo returned, lips pressed together. "I wasn't fooling around, you know that. That one is _good_."

"Use me." Shoei said, intently.

Rikuo stilled. The urge to be, as his Toono friends put it, a _spoilt brat_ came back with a vengeance. He bit it down. "You sure? I've only used it in practice before."

Shoei's face showed no doubt whatsoever. His eyes seemed to pierce Rikuo with their faith. "My power at your service, my Lord."

The thing about Matoi was that unlike Kyoka Suigetsu or Meikyo Shisui it didn't come from within. It was a blended and confused mix that blurred borders between the participants like rain did to watercolors. It was the closest form of teamwork imaginable, something that due to the close proximity of minds left one vulnerable to the other.

It was Rikuo's human blood that made it possible, but it was his Nurarihyon blood that made him hesitant to use it. The blood was powerful – Nurariyhon was one of the most powerful yokai in history. So powerful that even Rikuo, three quarters human or no, was aside from the daylight issue no different from any full-blooded Great Yokai. His personality was such that though his friends called him 'spoiled prince', he got what he wanted _by his own hands and means and will_ and never, _ever_ accepted not standing on top of the food chain.

In a symbiosis such as the one Matoi invoked, it was far, _far_ too easy to crush his partner's soul on pure instinctive reaction.

And Rikuo…wasn't the best at reigning himself in.

Rikuo avoided Matoi to such degrees that he developed a second 'mode' even - fight on his own.

Rikuo swallowed. "Very well." If he was going to do this, he'd make it worth it. "We'll crush them and this space. All in one strike." His fingers tightened around the hilt of his katana, a vicious glint appearing in his eyes, a sharp tilt to his lips.

"Become my blade, Shoei."

Rikuo's spirit blade glinted as Sohei released his Fear. From the blade's connection to Rikuo, it took hold in his human blood. An anchor. The majority shaped Rikuo's sword.

Foreign thoughts brushed against his mind like grass swaying in the wind. Rikuo kept focus sharp on target. Kidomaru. Who suddenly looked as though he regretted taking the dignified approach of allowing the enemy the first strike on his home turf.

No fun.

But domination.

Rikuo could live with that.

"Hihi no Matoi. Kokikurenai Daishinsou."

The giant cleaved weighted nothing in Rikuo's hand but the destruction in brought to this space, to the yokai who underestimated its might and thought he could kill Rikuo before Rikuo swung it down, belied this appearance.

* * *

TBC.


	16. tears and ends and beginnings

Act III

* * *

 _tears and ends and beginnings_

* * *

Real space re-manifested, the grand antique hall in shambles. The roof was half torn off, the higher floors included. Clouds black and heavy swelled down from heaven, rolling like a tsunami. Shadows and flickers of light slid over their undersides, creating a ghostly dance. Orange flames licking on ancient wood were the only source of illumination.

Before that entrancing background, the pale delicate body of a girl was suspended. Held immobile by thousand hair-thin strings only visible for the fire's glow dancing over them, the scene was reminiscent of ritual sacrifice.

It was spellbinding even without the screaming.

The screaming. It was so loud, no one even noticed when Rikuo and Shoei reappeared.

A cloud of Fear surrounded the girl, not as it would were she the one using it, but as though the body could no longer contain it – it was expelled and took the inky, see through shape of a humanoid fox.

The Nidaime, standing securely on one of those hair-thin stings, gathered Fear around his sword.

Yura's Hagun canon sucked in air as she aimed carefully, as she waited for the right moment to shoot.

Rikuo felt his blood turn to ice – an entirely human reaction.

Was the old man really going to-?

Was she – not?

Rikuo's father moved so fast, his eyes could barely keep track.

The girl screamed _more._ Fear spilled out of the slash like blood, but it was the Fox-image that bled.

Yura shot.

The blast of light was blinding, searing Rikuo's eyes, but he did not look away.

Couldn't even if he wanted.

The girl ( _onee-san who're you_ ) was silenced. She fell limp like a doll.

An audible wave of dismay rose from her hakkiyako, from those members that had been locked in combat until they had been arrested by the sight just as Rikuo was.

The fox-spirit was screaming, but the Nidaime had no attention on her at the moment. Easing the strings, he caught the girl and set her to the ground. With cautious, careful movements. Where she was immediately swarmed by their servants.

As the Old Man rose to face the fox again, a pale hand, well visible in the shadows, weakly reached after him.

Rikuo's throat was suddenly closed.

Only the lightshow of the very peak of onmyoji techniques managed to draw Rikuo's focus from her long enough to watch a spell wind around the malicious spirit. It slithered like snakes around her limbs, cutting off and suppressing her Fear.

Yura muttered spells under her breath, sweat glistering on her skin, but she was not the only one. An entire of army of skeletons copied her as well as those members of her Clan that had dared to come close.

The fox's voice became higher, like screeching, until it was cut off entirely and the spirit dissolved like smoke.

Gone. Just like that.

Harogomo Kitsune was defeated. The Nura Clan cheered, fist pumping in the air and shouts of victory claiming the night.

Yura's knees buckled under her and Rikuo's feet carried him to her before all else. "Oi, you okay?

She glared at him. It said a lot however that none of her shikigami were around, not even Hidemoto.

Rikuo sighed and picked her up, ignoring her squawking protests on the basis that her attempts at punching him were clumsy and weak. He dumped her on her brothers. They would take care of her, Rikuo had returned the onmyoji they had (kind of) borrowed.

The onmyoji gone out of the midst of the hyakkiyako, it would no longer be ungrateful or irresponsible to leave at a moment's notice.

Meaning he no longer had a plausible reason to avoid joining his father's side.

The girl.

Rikuo wanted to put all this confusion and pain behind him, but now that it was about to happen, he was hesitant.

However it was his lack of patience with all of this mess that gave him the composure (strength) to breach the cluster of yokai around his father.

His father, who sat on the ground beside the girl. A girl whose trembling fingers were entangled in his father's sleeve.

His father who looked at her with an unreadable expression. One of his hands twisted out of his robe and caught her fingers.

Rikuo felt his breath escape in halting pieces.

Her pale face turned arrestingly slowly. Black eyes sought Rikuo's face and it seemed she needed time to gather her focus to even see him.

But then she smiled.

A heartbreaking, sad and graceful smile.

There was no blood on her face, or anywhere on her body (how had the old man managed that?) but her black hair, her black eyes, her black clothes made her look like a corpse and utterly fragile. "Ri-ku…o."

Rikuo's gut churned. He felt his father's gaze on him, waiting. He lost feeling in his legs and had to sit down.

Looking at her was painful. That soft timber of her voice was entirely different from the fox speaking through her. It made him feel four and innocent again.

This was the girl who had painted pictures in the dirt with him, whose hand was warm and soft and who had helped him pick flowers for his mother. Who had had his father's blood splattered on her face as she stabbed him. Who had laughed. And _screamed_.

"Onee-san." He said, the words like ash in his mouth. "Who're you?"

He saw the memory in her eyes. But her smile only became more heartbreaking as she looked at him. A sheen of tears made her dark eyes even more difficult to looked at.

"I…remember," she whispered, broken. "I…recall it now. All of it. I do not kn-ow how I….can even begin to beg for forgiveness. I do not deserve it."

Rikuo felt his mouth twist. A glance at his father revealed that he as always wasn't particularly bothered by the reminder of his near death.

How long had he known?

How long had he _suspected_?

Was that why he didn't care?

"Before we get into complicated matters, how about you start at the beginning," suggested a new voice gruffly, Rikuo's grandfather appearing for the first time. "How is it that you are?"

The girl's face was marred by the effort it took to listen. When the words finally reached her, her gaze became distant.

Like passing out. Like dying.

Rikuo did not like what that thought did to his thoughts.

"Mother heard a voice," she managed to form eventually. And it was _now_ that the Nidaime tensed. "It spoke to her, the first time. A man's voice. The second time I heard it, it was speaking only to me even though I was merely a part of Mother. Just a desire that was never granted." Her voice died, heavy with sorrow. After a long moment, she tried to continue. "The next thing I recall is standing on the temple's stairs and Rikuo. Rikuo... Memories not of mine were in my head. Rikuo played with me. Rihan-sama – Father…let me and... took my hand."

Rikuo remembered that too.

It was that what, when he had discovered that house and the information of Sanmoto Gorozaemon's and saw that picture of her, had hit him the hardest.

A girl calling Rikuo's father 'Father' and his father accepting it and treating her as though she had always existed. It had made Rikuo think he _had_ had a real sister, one that had disappeared before he was old enough to remember her. A real sister who had stabbed their father.

Fifty percent of that were … not wrong.

"I...was happiness beyond the greatest bliss. It was...as though I was real, as though I had been granted...life, as though the greatest wish I had been born from was...truth. I knew nothing other than that it was...real. But then I-" her voice faded again, cracking on the last syllable.

"Then I triggered an implanted action because I had to cite that poem," Rikuo's father said, running a hand over his face in resignation and exhaustion and grief. "I forgot that it had to be a trap for a moment."

What poem?

His father's face tightened as he glanced up at Kubinashi, as always at his back. "Do we have Minagoroshi Jizou?"

For the first time Rikuo took note of how his father's most loyal was whitened with rage. "Yes, Rihan-sama. What shall we do with the rest of the fox's following? Those that haven't run yet?" He dropped a significant glance at the girl.

"Make it clear that those who don't run will be killed. They have no more business here." the second Head said, tone indifferent and cold. His attention fell back to the girl before Kubinashi had even bowed in acknowledgement. "We will get all he knows out of him. He'll tell us everything he did to you," he told the girl, addressing her for the first time directly. His tone was kind.

The girl choked on a sob. It made her entire body tremble. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She cried, tears glinted like liquid moonlight in the night, escaping from the corners of her eyes. It made Rikuo overly aware that she was human, weak and in agony now, no longer a mask hiding something monstrous. "I'm so sorry. …so sorry…"

She kept repeating the three words, like a broken record, so pitifully miserable.

Something twisted in Rikuo's gut as the thought occurred to him that maybe she would have preferred if his father's blade _had_ cut her and not only her Fear.

The Nidaime sighed heavily. "There was no fault in your actions," he said. "You fought her. You tried to resist her. I noticed in our battle." He pushed a bit of her out of her face and wiped a tear, not exactly gentle (yet) but caring enough. She froze, eyes rounding like a deer in the headlights. "It is to your credit that you broke the brainwashing and control long enough to remember what you are. There was no place for the fox in you after that. If you had not done that I don't know if I could have…" he made a sharp gesture with his head. Rikuo needed what felt like an eternity to catch the meaning; his father wasn't sure he could have struck the Fox without hurting the vessel who was…

Rikuo still couldn't properly think it. Not now that is seemed to be _reality_.

The Nidaime smirked, quick, sharp and approving. "I expect as much from a child of Otome's. And of mine."

…

Sister.

Rikuo had a sister. Starting now.

Who was immobile until a sob tore out of her throat. Then she started crying again. But there was something other to her tears this time than despair.

Rikuo stood abruptly.

Good. Fine. Just as well.

He had his confirmation, but he could not deal with all of the ramifications at once.

He turned his attention to the hyakkiyako, finding them ordered in shape and form and duties by Kubinashi. They were all well busy cleaning up the last yokai, sneering at the onmyoji with whom they were suddenly a lot less willing to share breathing space, and tending to the wounded.

Rikuo's eyes found Yukionna, smacking someone with way too much ice in the face as per her usual way of failed tender care. She was fine. Steady. As usual.

Itaku and his other friends from Toono were also as usual taking care to keep some space between themselves and the Nura Clan. Wouldn't do for them to be mistaken as part of the parade after all. Their pride would not be able to stand it. Itaku met his eyes. Arms crossed. One eyebrow ticked up, as though to say 'well?', challenging him and testing at the same time.

Rikuo tossed him a smirk.

Itaku rolled his eyes and snorted, but some tension went out of his shoulders. He turned and said something to his fellow mercenaries. They all relaxed and gave him quick waves before they jumped off. Clearly the cleanup after a battle was below Toono.

The oldest of the Nura Clan had come to join them now, no doubt having arrived with Rikuo's grandfather. They spoke to each other in low voices, gesturing harshly. By the way the kept glancing at the girl (Sister. _Sister_. Rikuo's real blood sister. What was her name?), there was no question about what they were talking. Grandpa had probably clued them in on the issue that had kept Heads One to Three plus some so obviously distracted. They didn't like the development.

Rikuo felt a stab of irritation at that. As if this was something that could be _judged_. It was far, far too personal to be _evaluated._

Rikuo caught Hitostume's gaze and held it, lips thinning. The other elders followed his line of sight and stilled as well. Hitotsume chewed his pipe, and looked away.

Inclining his head, Rikuo let them in peace.

More and more onmyoji were spilling into the temple hall. It seemed now that the fight was over their dared. They dared, and looked at the Nura Clan with fear and contempt and obviously wanted them off their holy grounds _now._

Rikuo sighed. He supposed he might as well do damage control there.

* * *

TBC


	17. of new beginnings and the drive of ambit

Act III. Final Act.

* * *

of new beginnings and the drive of ambition

* * *

Kana took in the destruction of the castle grounds with fearful awe.

It was not the first time that she was confronted with the destruction Rikuo-kun and his Clan could bring when they fought someone (that honour went to the bus accident when they were eight), but this definitely the biggest example.

Half the castle was torn away. There were grooves like giant claws or just a lot of force ripped into the ground.

Kiyotsugu-kun was overjoyed.

No sooner had the Keikain family pronounced it save for them to leave their home had Kiyotugu already made a list of yokai spots that had seen record breaking activity lately (as in this week and _last night_ ).

Maki-san, Torii-san and Shima-kun were more in line with Kana's feelings.

She didn't want to be here.

She hadn't heard from Rikuo-kun for two days now. A part of her that she kept desperately small was terrified that something had happened to him.

Yura too they hadn't seen in days, though at least they had her brother's assurance that she was _fine, just catching up on the sleep she missed, the moron._

Kana expected something to jump out at them from every shadow, regardless of the dozen onmyoji around fixing seals and muttering spells and cleaning up.

It was daytime, but that had meant so little lately.

"Look here!" Kiyotsugu pronounced. "See these grooves? And the small feelers on the edge? That is proof they can only have been made by a Gyuki demon! We have seen the same on Mount Nejireme if you recall."

"I don't," Maki-san groaned. "I don't want to either. Can't all of this just be because of an earthquake or something?"

"What are you saying, Maki-kun!" Kiyotsugu jumped. "Look at all this! Not even the greatest critics will be able to deny yokai after having seen all this evidence. Not even the most stubborn critics I tell you!"

Of whom you were once one, Kana thought uncharacteristically uncharitable. But she couldn't help it, being tired and tense and scared. She knew that people denied yokai existed when they were right in front of their eyes and yet feared the idea of them enough to give those very same yokai power.

She just wanted home.

Kiyotsugu exchanged lecturing them for pestering a passing onmyoji for answers on what had happened here.

Said onmyoji's expression said that he had better things to do than spend his time with a yokai maniac, but he still had enough derisive words to say about the spirit creatures and their sinful existence to have the words get stuck in his throat when he paled abruptly.

Kana followed his suddenly terrified gaze.

A stone fell from her heart.

Rikuo-kun, wearing his usual traditional yukata, seemed unhurt and fine.

Kana was so relieved that it took her a long moment to notice the yokai guards in disguise trailing him at a distance (more than twice than usual), and even longer to recognize that the pretty girl in a traditional, light colored kimono was not Oikawa-san at all.

The girl was taller, her hair darker and she wore an expression of delicate interest as she listened to Rikuo-kun talk and gesture at the temple.

The twist in her heart at the sight Kana pushed away with practice and the happiness to see him. "Rikuo-kun!" She waved, startling her friends.

Rikuo-kun's head turned in their direction. He smiled as they came closer, but he was careful, as he was crowded with questions and welcome, to place himself between them and the girl. The dark, incredibly pretty girl who looked at them all with a strange mix of hesitance and abstract curiosity, as though they were a sight she had never seen before.

"What are you guys doing here?" Rikuo-kun asked. "I thought you were still with the Keikains."

"We have come to admire the evidence of yokai, Nura-kun! It is marvelous. I have no doubt that a Gyuki demon was here!" Kiyotsugu-kun exclaimed waving wildly with an arm at the torn ground, a small viral with dirt in his hand. "Once I have analyzed and archived this matter I –"

"Yeah, I don't see why," Maki-san spoke over him loudly, rolling her eyes. "I thought you said Gyuki yokai lived on Mount Nejireme. Why would they be destroying a temple here? That's, like, halfway across the country."

"That is obvious, Maki-kun!" Kiyotsugu-kun proclaimed, before his voice lowered with awe. "It must have been _him_. _Them_. The Supreme Commander of all yokai."

Kana really couldn't help the reflexive glance at Rikuo-kun. His eyes were lit by silent amusement, a smirk threatening to break out. Behind his shoulder, her hair held together by an actual flower, the girl's eyebrows rose in surprise. She looked at them all with a bit more interest, something that might have been humor gracing her features.

"Uh-huh," Maki-san commented. "Right. You do know that if we wanted to know what happened all we had to do was to wait for Yura-chan to wake up and ask her, right?"

Kiyotsugu-kun froze. He put a hand to his chin and appeared to think hard about the suggestion. "That is true…I suppose. Very well." He beamed that overenthusiastic smile and clapped Maki-san on the shoulder. "A wise idea! We shall do so immediately after we gathered every yokai hair that we can find in this place!"

Maki-san and Torii-san groaned, long suffering. Shima-kun was not even paying attention.

"Nura, who is that friend of yours? …Are _you_ here on a _date_?"

The others froze and jumped to attention like only new gossip can induce.

Kana's stomach dropped a bit. She ignored it.

Rikuo-kun went through a series of micro- expressions, from surprise to humor to disgust before settling on a smile that was, at least to Kana, an odd cross between deception and sincerity.

He cleared his throat. "Yeah, no. Not a date." He took a step aside so that he no longer physically separated the girl from them (or them from the girl). "This is Nura Riko. She's my sister from my father's previous marriage."He smiled hundred percent convincing and just as fake. "She has been living abroad, which is why I haven't mentioned her before."

Kana knew when he made the expressions that were the most 'human-normal' that more often than not, the truth was twisted. It made sense considering that not even Kana had ever heard anything about a _sister_.

Sister.

Rikuo-kun had a _sister._

Rikuo-kun's sister inclined her head, movements graceful and fluid in the pale kimono. Her smile was small and humble and worthy of being painted. "Any friend of Rikuo's is a pleasure to meet. My apologies for disturbing your peaceful excursion."

They scrambled for their manners to return the greeting and when Kana straightened out of her awkward, hasty bow she saw black eyes glitter with the faintest shade of impish humor and their flustered attempts.

Sister. Right.

She felt stupid for never considering it before, but then again it wasn't really her place to wonder why she wasn't told. After all, Rihan-san wasn't exactly young.

"Your sister is really pretty," Kana heard Shima-kun whisper in a low tone to Rikuo-kun, pulling him aside, unable to take his eyes away from her. "You're so lucky."

Rikuo-kun's cheek twitched, but of course he never let Shima-kun see anything other than what any other boy in his position would be, rolling his eyes before he engaged him in a conversation that probably had absolutely nothing to do with his family and still everything to do with yokai.

Knowing that if she wanted the truth, here she would get only lies were she to ask here, Kana awkwardly turned her attention towards the girl even as Maki-san and Torii-san oh-ed and ah-ed over her.

"Riko-chan is it? Nice to meet'cha." Maki-san said. "Riko and Rikuo – that's fitting. You can basically tell you're siblings just from that. That's good since I mean you don't exactly look alike," she stated bluntly but not rudely.

"How do you spell it?" Torii-san wondered, blinking in thought. "With Katakana like Nura-kun?"

Riko-san's cheeks dusted pink, a light coming to her eyes even as she humbly averted her sight. "Father thinks that flowers suit me well, so it is written with 'white jasmine'." She looked at Rikuo-kun, who was getting needled by Shima-kun while they were both talked over by Kiyotsugu-kun.

"That's very cute," Torii-san complimented admiringly. "Flowers are definitely better for girls than Katakana. Like that hair clip. It looks like a real flower. Where did you buy it?"

Riko-san's pale fingers brushed over her tied hair. "It is a real flower," she told them serenely, her voice a smile. She shifted on her feet. "…One of Father's…attendants braided it in my hair for me."

"Attendants? So he really _is_ loaded," Maki-san muttered, side glancing at Rikuo-kun.

Kana bit her lip. "Will you be moving to Ukioye Town, Riko-san?" She tried hesitantly, glancing between Riko-san and Rikuo-kun, aware of the dozens of stares tracking their every move – from yokai guards with attention and from onmyoji with great wariness and loathing, which surprisingly was more focused on Riko-san than Rikuo.

Riko-san looked at her, meeting Kana's eyes with her black ones. The other girl smiled as pretty as a model. "Yes, Kana-san. I believe I so. We will be seeing each other quite often, possibly." Her eyes flickered to Rikuo-kun again, like a habit she couldn't control. "Rikuo mentioned he would like to inquire if you were to introduce me to the human parts of the town."

Kana returned the smile, glad it was so easy. "I can do that, yes. There're a lot of places that Rikuo-kun isn't very familiar with – you should see them."

"Definitely." Maki-san agreed enthusiastically. Were it not for Riko-san's fine clothes and delicate hairstyle, she would have probably already swung an arm around Riko-san's shoulders. "Like the mall! Don't let the boys even hear the word or they'll be gone before you can blink." She sniffed. "If there is some supposed yokai haunting it, then sure, everything is fine and dandy. But just for hanging out – _Boys._ "

Riko-san blinked. "Are there yokai in a, er, mall?" A hair fine furrow formed between her eyes. "I was under the impression that humans and yokai did not interact much?"

 _Ah._

Maki-san and Torii-san looked at Riko-san oddly.

"Of course they don't interact much, because yokai are urban legends." Kana cut in with an easy smile. And wasn't it weird that her all awkwardness left because she was back to managing between normal humans and not normal humans? It was familiar ground, but still… "Did Rikuo-kun tell you yet that he is one of our Club members? We go searching for yokai. We don't find any that often, but it's fun. Kiyotsugu-kun is very determined to find and meet the Supreme Commander of all yokai, has been for a long time."

Riko-san blinked rapidly, glancing from Kana to Kiyotsugu-kun and back again, quite possibly questioning if she was serious. Kana was very serious and kept smiling.

"Oh," Riko-san said, hiding her lips with a hand that disappeared in the sleeves of her kimono. Eyes danced. "I see. Your Kiyotsugu-kun must be quite brave to attempt such a frightening thing."

Maki-san snorted.

"Which reminds me...," Riko-san said politely, moving away from them to approach the boys. She tapped her brother on the shoulder (with movements to elegant Kana just _had_ to believe she had had decades to practice). As Rikuo-kun's face turned away from his friends, Riko-san said something that had him smirk wickedly for an instant before he put Kiyotsugu-kun and Riko-san in direct conversation.

Watching that, Kana felt her stomach drop and a shudder run down her spine.

…hopefully Riko-san at least wouldn't go to the same school as them. Or else Kana feared for her blood pressure.

* * *

Rihan returned home to a smoothly and efficiently run household, which apparently in absence of Wakana had been taken over by his daughter, and a Clan that hardly seemed to have noticed his absence.

It was pretty odd though that he had to especially seek out the origin of the well-run affairs. He found his son in the process of packing a suitcase wearing clothes for human interaction. He barely paused when Rihan slid his doors open.

"Oh, hey Dad. You're back. How was vacation with Mom?"

"It was nice. I see you did a good job while I was gone."

Rikuo didn't even look up, just kept packing. "I wrote up a report so you can take the Clan back starting right now."

Rihan leaned against the door. "You know, your mother and I were thinking that since you did such a good job, and since I want to get to know Riko that you might as well take the Clan more often. But I seem to be missing something here. Why do you look like you're fleeing?"

Rikuo gave him a short, distracted glare. "Don't be stupid. I'm not running. Just - postponing."

Rihan stared."…what?"

"Well, yousee, it occurred to me while you were gone and while I was handling Clan matters and cleaning up after the stupid Hundred Tales uprising, that, technically, I'll be doing that a lot in the future."

"….That _is_ what it means to be Clan Head."

"Sure. I just noticed I'm not ready for that yet," Rihan's son said as though it wasn't the opposite of what he had claimed since he was old enough to speak.

"… _what?_ "

"I mean," Rikuo clarified, getting up to dig around in his closets, still with that distracted cagey air, "I've got time. Hundreds of years."

Rihan stared. Rikuo dumped more casual modern clothes in his suitcase, slapped it shut and had to sit on it to get the zippers closed.

"I've decided," Rikuo informed him as he and his suitcase passed Rihan on their way of leaving Rikuo's room, "that you can keep the Clan. For now. I don't want to be holed up at the Main House all day."

"…" Rihan felt distinctly like someone had flipped the world upside down while he wasn't looking. "… _what_?"

"Kiyotsugu dug up some interesting tales of yokai in Europe so the club is going. The school offers a voluntary language-development trip to Britain. Kiyotsugu did all the organizing, Gramps signed all the papers and I invited the guys from Toono along. The plane leaves at six. Riko is coming along as well, by the way," Rikuo explained matter-of-factly, very eager to leave. He had a wild, burning look in his eyes.

"I'm going to be Third Head, and all the world will know it. Because I'm going to conquer it," he said. " **I am going to stand at the very top of** **all spirits**."

* * *

This is the end of the fic. Sorry and at the same time very much not sorry.

I have plans, of course I have plans, but I have neither the energy, the focus nor the time to continue it. (I really, really want to write a Hyaku Monogatari Arc, though - maybe one day.)

Still, I decided to upload it because Nurarihyon no Mago is really awesome and deserves more attention than it's got - sure, there are a number of points that don't reach their full potential in the manga, but that's just makes me wonder all the more why there aren't more fics about it to elaborate on said points. Even popular themes like Time Travel, so-and-so-didn't-die, this-and-that key information was discovered earlier are not at all explored.

I'd have thought, at least, that there would be a fic dealing with Rikuo **not** going the all-human way after the manga's first chapter, but there is nothing - literally nothing! I'd write one myself, but, well, you know, the usual stuff.

Thank you very much for following this story to the end and special thanks if you left a review. I hope you have enjoyed it. :)

~freefan1412


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